Cerumen Impaction Removal in General Practices: A Comparison of Approved Standard Products

Jean-Francois Chenot, Fritz Meyer, Rebekka Preuß, Aniela Angelow, Elisabeth Meyer, Simone Kiel

Keywords: cerumen; cerumenolytic agents; ear irrigation; earwax removal; pre-treatment.

Background:

Ear irrigation is a commonly used method for removing earwax in general practice. There is no firm evidence if no pre-treatment is as good as pre-treatment with various standard preparations.

Research questions:

To assess the effectiveness of no pre-treatment compared to pre-treatment with commercially available cerumenolytics and to assess which preparation is best suited for pre-treatment.

Method:

This is a pragmatic observational study of patients with cerumen treated from a single GP with 3 different preparations or no preparation prior to standardized ear irrigation. Generalized linear mixed models with logit link function were performed to assess the effectiveness of pre-treatment with different preparations and no pre-treatment. The models were adjusted for age group (<70, ≥70) and sex.

Results:

A total of 168 patients (298 ears, 58 % female, median age 65 years) consulted for obstructive cerumen, some of them several times. The cerumen was successfully removed in 70% (208/298). Comparing any preparation to no preparation (aggregated comparison), the odds ratio for complete clearance was 1.35 (95%confidence interval: 0.69-2.65). Comparing the preparations individually, the odds ratio of the docusate-sodium-based preparation was 1.87 (95% CI: 0.79-4.42) indicating a higher effectiveness. Although, not statistically significant. Ear irrigation was less successful for patients aged ≥ 70 years (OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.23-0.98).

Conclusions:

The aggregated comparison indicates a slight trend toward a higher effectiveness of any pre-treatment compared to no pre-treatment. The effect-size of docusate-sodium-based pre-treatment indicates a higher effectiveness of cerumen impaction removal. Nevertheless, superiority could not be shown conclusively according to the statistical significance given the restricted sample size.

Points for discussion:

Should GPs remove earwax, is there an safety issue?

What is the next step after unsucessful ear irrigation?