Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website to its version as of 12:00 AM on January 29, 2025. Information on this page may be modified and/or removed in the future subject to the terms of the court’s order and implemented consistent with applicable law. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from truth. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology due to the harms and divisiveness it causes. This page does not reflect reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Reduce ear infections in children — HOSCD‑04 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About this objective  |  Methodology  |  History

About this objective

Data

Data Source:  National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), CDC/NCHS

National baseline: 32.8 per 1,000 children 17 years and under had 3 or more ear infections in the past 12 months in 2023

National target: 26.2 per 1,000

Numerator
Number of children 17 years and under, who have had 3 or more ear infections in the past 12 months.
Denominator
Number of children 17 years and under.
National target-setting method
Minimal statistical significance
National target-setting method details
Minimal statistical significance, assuming the same standard error for the target as for the baseline.
National target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. The standard error was used to calculate a target based on minimal statistical significance, assuming the same standard error for the target as for the baseline. This method was used because it was a statistically significant improvement from the baseline.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2023 National Health Interview Survey:

In the Child Health Status & Limitations Section of the Sample Child Questionnaire:

Numerator:
During the past 12 months, has [fill: Sample Child's name] had an ear infection accompanied by earache, or fluid in the ear, and/or temporary hearing loss?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Refused
  4. Don't know

During the past 12 months, has [fill: Sample Child's name] had three or more ear infections accompanied by earache, or fluid in the ear, and/or temporary hearing loss?

  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Refused
  4. Don't know

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Modified, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 but underwent a change in measurement.
Changes between HP2020 and HP2030
This objective differs from Healthy People 2020 objective ENT-VSL-2 in that objective ENT-VSL-2 used data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) to track visits with a diagnosis of otitis media (ICD-9-CM codes 3810-3815, 382) among persons under age 18 years, while this objective uses data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to track persons under age 17 who had 3 or more ear infections (based on the NHIS survey questions) in the last 12 months.
Revision History
Revised. 

In 2025, the original baseline was revised due to 2019 NHIS redesign and survey questions changes. The denominator was changed from children 3-17 years in 2018 to all children 17 years and under in 2023. The target-setting method was changed to minimal statistical significance as the percentage improvement target estimate was not significant.The original baseline was changed from 48.0 to 32.8 per 1,000. The target was adjusted from 43.2 to 26.2 per 1,000 to reflect the revised baseline using the new target-setting method.