| Study | Reason for exclusion |
|---|---|
| Abramson 1969 | For surgery, not for AOM |
| Brunet 1970 | No control group |
| Busmann 1967 | No original data, review only |
| Comeau 1978 | Iontophoresis For myringotomy or ventilation tube placement, not AOM |
| Fay 2003 | No original data, comments on a previous trial (Sarrell 2003a; Sarrell 2003b) |
| Fort 2000 | Oral not topical administration of pain relief |
| Francois 1993 | Treatment of congestive myringitis, not AOM |
| Francois 1995 | No original data, an overview |
| Koeppel 1970 | No original data, review only |
| Lacher 1969 | No control group |
| Laszlo 1981 | Anaesthesia of tympanic membrane, not for AOM |
| Laxdal 1970 | Not double‐blinded; intervention not appropriate |
| MacPhail 1996 | Descriptive article |
| Matz 2001a | Not double‐blinded; intervention not appropriate |
| Matz 2001b | No original data, referring to data in an unpublished study (Matz) |
| McConaghy 2001 | No original data; review only |
| Menshikov 1968 | No control group |
| Millard 1969 | No control group |
| Milvio 1984 | Oral non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug |
| Polyakova 1991 | Unclear if randomised and blinded, unable to contact authors |
| Reiss 2002 | No original data; an overview |
| Sano 1995 | No original data; an overview |
| Shikowitz 1989 | No original data; review only |
| Silverstein 1969 | No control group; for insertion of tympanic membrane tubes, not for AOM |
| Weippl 1985 | Neither randomised nor double‐blinded; oral treatment |
| Willenberg 1975 | No control group |
| Woldman 1998 | No original data; comments on a previous trial (Hoberman 1997) |
AOM: acute otitis media