Table 2.
Clinical symptoms of the patients before and after intervention.
| Before intervention | After intervention | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variables | Intervention (N: 188) | Control (N: 208) | P value | Intervention (N: 188) | Control (N: 208) | P value |
| Otalgia | 94 (50%) | 106 (51%) | >0.05 | 28 (15%) | 59 (28%) | <0.01∗ |
| Fever | 170 (90%) | 172 (83%) | <0.01∗ | 35 (19%) | 92 (44%) | <0.01∗ |
| Irritability | 86 (46%) | 86 (41%) | >0.05 | 19 (10%) | 40 (19%) | <0.05∗ |
| Vomiting | 6 (3%) | 9 (4%) | >0.05 | 9 (5%) | 4 (2%) | >0.05 |
| Diarrhea | 10 (5%) | 8 (4%) | >0.05 | 13 (7%) | 5 (2%) | <0.05∗ |
| Coryza | 107 (57%) | 118 (57%) | >0.05 | 6 (3%) | 10 (5%) | >0.05 |
| Cough | 92 (49%) | 106 (51%) | >0.05 | 4 (2%) | 10 (5%) | >0.05 |
| Pharyngitis | 4 (2%) | 1 (0.5%) | >0.05 | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | — |
| Nasal congestion | 15 (8%) | 10 (5%) | >0.05 | 1 (0.5%) | 0 (0%) | >0.05 |
| Skin rash | 21 (11%) | 25 (12%) | >0.05 | 2 (1%) | 0 (0%) | >0.05 |
| Asthma | 7 (4%) | 10 (5%) | >0.05 | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | — |
| Poor feeding | 4 (2%) | 1 (0.5%) | >0.05 | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | — |
| Ear drum perforation | x | x | 2 (1%) | 1 (0.5%) | >0.05 | |
| Unilateral erythema of TM | 104 (55%) | 129 (62%) | >0.05 | ∗∗ | ∗∗ | |
| Bilateral erythema of TM | 83 (44%) | 78 (37%) | >0.05 | ∗∗ | ∗∗ | |
| Unilateral MEE | 93 (49%) | 111 (53%) | >0.05 | ∗∗ | ∗∗ | |
| Bilateral MEE | 55 (29%) | 59 (28%) | >0.05 | ∗∗ | ∗∗ | |
MEE: middle ear effusion; TM: tympanic membrane. ∗Statistically significant. ∗∗Not assessed after 3 days. X: ear drum perforation cases were excluded at initiation of the study.