Assessment of hearing impairment among primary school children in Nasiriya city during 2018

Abstract

Background: Over 5% of the world’s population or 466 million people has disabling hearing loss (34 million of them are children). Unaddressed hearing impairment in primary school children can significantly affect the academic performance of children and poor psycho-social and intellectual development in children. Justification of study: for early detection of hearing impairment among primary school children through activation or/and implementation of effective screening tools , and for early intervention to ensure mental , social, communication and educational development of children. Study objective: is to determine the extent of hearing loss in primary school children in Al-Nasiriya city. Also to determine the socio-demographic distribution ,ear diseases associated with hearing impairment, and to determine severity of hearing loss. Study design: Cross-sectional primary school based survey extended during 2018.
Methodology: cross-sectional analytical and comparative school-based study carried out through multistage systematic random sampling for 9 public primary schools in the Al-Nasiriya city from 2nd of January/2018 -end of 2018.primary information was obtained through thorough otological questionnaires from patient ,teachers, parents and through direct observation , tuning fork test would be conducted on all participants and audiometry was conducted for children with suspected hearing impairment. Then children with suspected hearing impairment referred for AL-Habboby hospital to confirm the diagnosis and for further assessment. The data were collected on SPSS version 23 and analyzed using chisquare test.
Conclusion: High prevalence of hearing impairment(16.3%) among primary school children, Higher prevalence in female gender , in pupils aged > 10 years , in families with low socioeconomic class , Significant independent association was found between HI and age and socioeconomic status. The most common ear diseases associated with hearing impairment were ear wax impaction and otitis media with effusion. The majority had mild HI