One problem in cholesteatoma surgery is recurrence of cholesteatoma, which is reported to vary from 5% to 71%. This great variability can be explained by issues such as the type of cholesteatoma, surgical technique, follow‐up rate, length of the postoperative observation period, and statistical method applied. The aim of this study was to illustrate the impact of applying different statistical methods to the same material. Thirty‐three children underwent single‐stage surgery for attic cholesteatoma during a 15‐year period. Thirty patients (94%) attended a re‐evaluation. During the observation period of 15 years, recurrence of cholesteatoma occurred in 10 ears. The cumulative total recurrence rate varied from 30% to 67%, depending on the statistical method applied. In conclusion, the choice of statistical method should depend on the number of patients, follow‐up rates, length of the postoperative observation period and presence of censored data.