Correspondence (letter to the editor): Incorrectly Coded

I was surprised to read the article about the J1 adolescent health check-up in issue 11. I belong to an almost extinct species of pediatricians in the countryside who treat more than 2000 patients every quarter, with a correspondingly high number of adolescents among them. I stumbled over the 51% comorbidity diagnosis for otitis media. Obviously, general practitioners code incorrectly in this context. Otitis media is extremely rare in adolescents; the Eustachian tube is usually sufficiently wide by then, and I cannot remember having coded a single case of otitis media in connection with the J1.