{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,9]],"date-time":"2026-05-09T05:12:50Z","timestamp":1778303570826,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pak J Med Sci"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objective: To determine the frequency of involvement of distant head &amp; neck sites which share sensory innervations with the ear in referred otalgia.\r\nMethods: This prospective study was conducted in the Department of ENT at Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, during the period from July 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017.*Non probability convenience sampling technique was used to include patients in the study. Patients with true \u2018otogenic pain\u2019 as determined on clinical examination or imaging studies were excluded from analysis. Only those who presented with referred ear ache were included in the study to determine the frequency of involvement of distant head &amp; neck sites in \u2018referred otalgia\u2019. Otalgia was designated as \u201cUnknown Origin\u201d when the ear and distant sites too were found normal.\r\nResults: Out of a total of 150 patients, there were 81(54%) males and 69(46%) females. The ages ranged from 5 to 66 years with a mean age of 29.15 years. The commonest age groups involved were 21-35 years and 36-55 years. Referred otalgia of tonsillar origin was found in 47(31.3%) of patients followed by that of dental origin in 35(23.3%). Otalgia due to pharyngitis, rhinosinusitis and cervical origin was 24(16%), 8(5.3%) and 6(4%) respectively. Otalgia due to temporomandibular joint was noted in 12(8%) of females and 3(2%) of males &amp; that of \u201cunknown origin\u201d affected 5(3.33%) of females and 2(1.3%) of males.\r\nConclusions: The ear should be examined in detail in patients presenting with earache to look for indigenous pathology. In the presence of a \u2018Normal Ear\u2019, it is important to examine the tonsils, teeth, pharynx and the nose &amp; paranasal sinuses as the possible sites of origin of earache.\r\ndoi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12669\/pjms.35.4.236\r\nHow to cite this:Anwar K, Khan S, Shahabi I, Niazi ZB. The frequency of involvement of head &amp; neck sites in\u00a0referred otalgia \u2013 An experience at a tertiary\u00a0care hospital. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(4):1138-1142.\u00a0\u00a0doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12669\/pjms.35.4.236\r\nThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.12669\/pjms.35.4.236","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,27]],"date-time":"2019-06-27T01:17:00Z","timestamp":1561598220000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The frequency of involvement of head &amp; neck sites in\u00a0referred otalgia \u2013 An experience at a tertiary\u00a0care hospital"],"prefix":"10.12669","volume":"35","author":[{"given":"Khurshid","family":"Anwar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shehryar","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Isteraj","family":"Shahabi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zenab Berches","family":"Niazi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"4935","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,10]]},"container-title":["Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/pjms.org.pk\/index.php\/pjms\/article\/download\/236\/181","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/pjms.org.pk\/index.php\/pjms\/article\/download\/236\/181","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,9]],"date-time":"2026-05-09T05:01:17Z","timestamp":1778302877000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/pjms.org.pk\/index.php\/pjms\/article\/view\/236"}},"subtitle":["Involvement of head &amp; neck sites in\u00a0referred otalgia"],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,10]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,26]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12669\/pjms.35.4.236","relation":{},"ISSN":["1681-715X","1682-024X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1681-715X","type":"electronic"},{"value":"1682-024X","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,10]]}}}