4. Resolution of ear discharge outcome.

Reference	Unit of randomisation	Reported	Definition	Otoscopically confirmed?	Time points	mNotes
Eason 1986	Person	Results reported by ear	"dry" or "not discharging"	Unclear	2 to 4 weeks: 3 weeks 4+ weeks: 6 weeks	Results not used as it was not possible to account for correlation between ears due to bilateral disease.
Loock 2012	Person	Results reported by person	"inactive" ear (dry)	Otoscopically confirmed	2 to 4 weeks: 4 weeks	Also measured patient satisfaction which asked patients whether their ears were 'completely dry', 'better but not completely dry', 'no better, still running'
Minja 2006	School	Results reported by person. Only considered 'dry' if both ears were dry.	"Dry" ear	Otoscopically confirmed	2 to 4 weeks: 4 weeks 4+ weeks: 3 to 4 months	Intra‐cluster correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.015 was used
Papastavros 1989	Ear	Results reported by ear	"cure" ‐ co‐existence of all 3 of the following conditions: 1. Ear free of discharge 2. Colour of mucosa: light pink 3. Absence of mucosal oedema, granulations or polyps	Unclear ‐ but probably	1 to 2 weeks: 10 days	Results not used as it was not possible to account for correlation between ears due to bilateral disease
Van Hasselt 1998b	Unclear	Results reported by ear	'dry ear'	Unclear	1 to 2 weeks: 1 week	Results not used as it was not possible to account for correlation between ears due to bilateral disease