TY - JOUR

T1 - Prevalence and causes of paediatric hearing loss in a rural province of Zimbabwe

T2 - A cross-sectional study

AU - Pedersen, Christian K.

AU - Zimani, Priscilla

AU - Frendø, Martin

AU - Spindler, Nicklas Juel

AU - Chidziva, Clemence

AU - von Buchwald, Christian

AU - Jensen, Ramon G.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Background: Hearing loss (HL) in childhood is a significant disability with severe consequences for educational, cognitive, and social-emotional success. Nevertheless, prevalence estimates for HL in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are based on scarce data. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the prevalence of HL in a sample of primary school children from a rural province of Zimbabwe. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on primary school children aged 4–13 years from a rural Zimbabwean province. In the quietest room available, participants underwent audiometry, video otoscopy, and tympanometry. Hearing loss was defined as a pure-tone average > 25 dB. Risk factors of hearing loss were evaluated via a questionnaire. Furthermore, to enable comparison with similar studies, HL prevalence was calculated according to two other commonly used definitions. Results: A total of 451 pupils were included, of which 10.6% (95% CI 7.8–13.5) met the study criteria for HL. Conductive HL (95.1%) was nineteen times more prevalent than sensorineural HL (4.9%). Otitis media was the underlying cause in 40% of all cases of HL. The prevalence of clinically significant HL varied depending on the definition applied, i.e., 0.4% (95% CI -0.2–1.0) in the worst World Health Organisation category as opposed to 4.2% (95% CI 2.4–4.1) in the worst American Speech-Hearing Association category. Conclusions: Hearing loss was common in this sample of primary school children from a rural province in Zimbabwe.

AB - Background: Hearing loss (HL) in childhood is a significant disability with severe consequences for educational, cognitive, and social-emotional success. Nevertheless, prevalence estimates for HL in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are based on scarce data. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the prevalence of HL in a sample of primary school children from a rural province of Zimbabwe. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on primary school children aged 4–13 years from a rural Zimbabwean province. In the quietest room available, participants underwent audiometry, video otoscopy, and tympanometry. Hearing loss was defined as a pure-tone average > 25 dB. Risk factors of hearing loss were evaluated via a questionnaire. Furthermore, to enable comparison with similar studies, HL prevalence was calculated according to two other commonly used definitions. Results: A total of 451 pupils were included, of which 10.6% (95% CI 7.8–13.5) met the study criteria for HL. Conductive HL (95.1%) was nineteen times more prevalent than sensorineural HL (4.9%). Otitis media was the underlying cause in 40% of all cases of HL. The prevalence of clinically significant HL varied depending on the definition applied, i.e., 0.4% (95% CI -0.2–1.0) in the worst World Health Organisation category as opposed to 4.2% (95% CI 2.4–4.1) in the worst American Speech-Hearing Association category. Conclusions: Hearing loss was common in this sample of primary school children from a rural province in Zimbabwe.

KW - Audiometry

KW - Ear disease

KW - Epidemiology

KW - Hearing loss

KW - Otoscopy

KW - Tympanometry

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123681567&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijporl.2022.111044

DO - 10.1016/j.ijporl.2022.111044

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35091201

AN - SCOPUS:85123681567

VL - 154

JO - International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology Extra

JF - International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology Extra

SN - 1871-4048

M1 - 111044

ER -