Recently, there is a great interest in immunologic role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of otitis media with effusion(OME). To elucidate the roles of cytokines in this very common disease, the relationship between levels of various cytokines in middle ear effusion(MEE) and clinical findings in OME patients was studied. The concentrations of cytokines, including Interleukin-1α(IL-1α), Interleukin-1β(IL-1β), Interleukin-2(IL-2), and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) in 71 MEE and 17 serum samples from 57 OME patients were measured, using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assays(ELISA) technique, and the clinical findings, such as age, duration of illness, bilaterality of disease, frequency of recurrences, bacterial growth, type of effusion, and blood contamination during sampling were classified according to the degree or severity of findings, respectively. We then statistically compared the levels of cytokines with the clinical findings. The result were : 1) Cytokine levels in MEE were significantly higher than in serum(p<0.05). 2) Levels of IL-1α and IL-2 in MEE were significantly higher in children group than in adults group(p<0.05). Levels of IL-1β and TNF-α are also higher in child group, but it is not statistically significant. 3) Levels of all four cytokines in MEE longer than 3 months seem to be higher than in those of shorter duration, but it is not statistically significant. 4) Any differences of cytokine levels are not found depending on other variables, i.e. bilaterality of disease, frequency of recurrences, bacterial growth, type of effusion or blood contamination.