Despite advances in the development of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, acute otitis media (AOM) is a common childhood infection, caused mainly by Streptococcus pneumoniae. It has been suggested that persistence of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage is a risk factor for subsequent recurrent infections. In this study we evaluate the relationship between 55 pneumococcal strains obtained from nasopharynx/oropharynx (NP/OP) and middle ear fluid (MEF) of 62 children, aged between 1 and 16 years, during AOM (including recurrent/treatment failure AOM, and post-treatment visits), based on their phenotypic and genotypic characteristics performed by analyses of serotype, antibiotic susceptibility patterns and multilocus sequence typing. S.pneumoniae was isolated from 27.4% of MEF samples; it constituted 43.6% of all positive bacterial samples from MEF samples. There was statistically significant concordance between isolation from the MEF sample and NP/OP colonization by S. pneumoniae (p < 0.0001). During post-treatment visits S.pneumoniae was isolated from 20.8% of children; 91% of them were positive in pneumococcal NP/OP culture during AOM. The serotypes belonging to 10- and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugated vaccines constituted 84% and 92% of the strains, respectively. Multidrug resistance was found in 84% of the strains. According to multivariate analysis, pneumococcal colonization after antibiotic therapy was significantly associated with shorter length of therapy in children with bilateral AOM. High persistent prevalence of antibiotic-resistant S.pneumoniae strains in children with AOM after unsuccessful bacterial eradication may presumably be regarded as a predisposing factor of infection recurrence.

Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) can be simply defined as an area of human life that directly affects people which they consider to be important. This can be defined in greater detail as ‘an individual perception of an individual’s life position within a cultural context, value system and in relation to their tasks, expectations and standards determined by environmental conditions’. The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) more specifically focuses on how the QoL affects health (including both medical and non-medical issues). Limitations in well-being will, by association, also occur in those children suffering with sinus diseases. Study aim: To compare the quality of life in children–adolescents suffering from some of the most commonly occurring childhood diseases of chronic rhinitis and sinusitis on a group of healthy children–adolescents. Test materials and methods: Subjects were children–adolescents with at least one of the aforementioned conditions afflicting the upper respiratory tract. Admission criteria were: ages 5 to 18 years in the presence of a chronic disease such as chronic rhinitis and paranasal sinusitis. The Child Health Questionnaire-Parent Form 50 CHQ-PF-50 (CHQ-PF50) was used, which is a general-purpose research instrument based on psychometric testing designed for assessing physical and mental well-being in children–adolescents aged 5 to 18 years. Results: Wellbeing significantly deteriorated in sick children within the following areas: current health status of the child (STAND), physical fitness (PF), social functioning resulting from behaviour or emotional state (REB), the impact of physical health on limitations in social functioning (RP), pain and discomfort (BP), behaviour (BE), mental health (MH), self-esteem (SE), general health perception (GH), influence of the child’s health condition on parental emotions (PE), limitations on parental leisure time due to the child’s health (PT) and restrictions on joint family activities (FA). Conclusions: The greatest impairment to well-being in children with chronic rhinitis and paranasal sinusitis was on the impact of the child’s health status on parents’ emotions, pain and discomfort and general perception of health. This study confirms that parents of healthy children attach great importance to their health and health-related quality of life.

Introduction: The quality of life issue began to be earnestly studied in the second half of the 20th century. It had originally been used as a criterion for measuring levels of human development in the USA and Western Europe. At first, only objective parameters were assessed, such as material goods; however, later, subjective and non-material parameters were added, such as health, freedom, and happiness. Over time, more and more attention has been paid to the subjective parameters regarding any quality of life assessment. Adenoids are physiological clusters of lymphoid tissue included in Waldeyer’s ring, which play an important role in shaping and directing the child’s local and systemic lines of defence. Adenoid hypertrophy occurs due to a variety of factors, such as recurring or chronic infections of the upper respiratory tract. Study aim: To assess health status in children with adenoid system hypertrophy compared with a group of healthy children. Materials and methods: The study group consisted of children suffering from adenoid hypertrophy, this being the most common chronic disease of the upper respiratory tract. The control group was composed of children attending nursery school (kindergarten), primary school, middle school, and high school. The study was performed by using the Child Health Questionnaire—Parent Form 50 CHQ-PF-50 (CHQ-PF50), which is a general purpose research tool based on psychometric testing when assessing physical and mental well-being in children aged 5 to 18 years. Results: There were 101 filled out questionnaires for the test group (54 girls and 47 boys), mean age 8.62 years (ranging 5–17), whilst 102 questionnaires for the controls (50 girls and 52 boys), mean age 10.58 years (ranging 5–18). Insignificant differences were found between social functioning resulting from behaviour or emotional state (REB), pain and discomfort (BP), and family cohesion (FC). Conclusions: Children suffering from adenoid hypertrophy demonstrate the largest decreases in wellbeing in the following areas: behaviour, general perception of health, and mental health.