Hearing Impairment and Middle Ear Disease in Primary School Children in Cairo
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- Category: Vol. 78, September 2010
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Hearing Impairment and Middle Ear Disease in Primary School Children in Cairo,AHMED S. FARID, MAHA H. ABOU-ELEW, MOHAMAD Y. ABDEL-RAHMAN and SALLY I. FATHY
Abstract
Introduction: Local community-based epidemiological data on hearing loss of school children in Egypt are virtually sparse. Therefore, screening for hearing impairment (HI) in this age is crucial for early identification and management of cases.
Objective: This work aims to estimate the prevalence of hearing loss and/or middle ear disease in a representative sample of primary school children in Cairo, and to identify any associated factors related to or affecting their hearing loss.
Methods: Sample included in the study was 350 children of both genders aged 6-12 years. They were screened by otoscopy, pure tone audiometry and tympanometry.
Results: The prevalence of hearing impairment (HI) in the studied sample was 18.9%, while middle ear abnormalities were found in 22%. HI was significantly higher among the age group between 6-9 years; however it was unrelated to sex. TM abnormalities were detected in 81 children (23.1%) and found to be significantly associated to abnormal TM mobility and the younger age group (p<0.01). Conductive hearing loss was detected in a higher percentage (75.8%) of children than sensory-neural hearing loss (16.6%) and mixed hearing loss (7.6%). Regardless the type of HI, more than 80% of these children had mild or moderate degree of hearing loss.
Conclusion: The high prevalence of HI in Egyptian chil-dren requires implementation of screening programs for HI as a part of pre-school examination program in primary schools to guarantee early identification and effective intervention for the children affected.