Prevalence of hearing loss and ear morbidity among adolescents and young adults in rural southern Nepal

Abstract

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 3646 persons, 15 to 23 years of age, in the southern plains District of Sarlahi, Nepal, to assess the prevalence and severity of hearing loss and middle-ear dysfunction, and adverse effects of hearing loss on social integration. Between 2006 and 2008, subjects were enumerated and underwent otoscopic, tympanometric, and audiometric evaluations at central sites in villages. Hearing loss was diagnosed in subjects who failed a hearing screening and exhibited an average air conduction threshold value greater than or equal to 30 dBHL in the worse ear. Clinically, 32.8% of subjects exhibited a dull or retracted tympanic membrane, and 18% had abnormal tympanometry. Nearly 12% failed the hearing screening test, among whom more than half, or 6.1% overall, had hearing loss. Hearing-impaired subjects were six- to eight-fold (ORs, with 95% CIs excluding 1.0) more likely to report problems in hearing usual sounds or communicating with other people. Among young adults living in southern Nepal, hearing loss is common, and associated with social disability.

Hearing impairment in otitis media with effusion: A cross-sectional study based in Pokhara, Nepal

“…Our results should also not be generalised to all children in Nepal, as children who attend school are not representative of all children of school age. For instance, 24% of rural Nepali children do not attend primary school [25]. An additional weakness of our study is that by conducting a crosssectional study, we are unable to estimate the proportion of cases of HI sustained for long enough to merit treatment [19].…”

“…Future projects wishing to improve external validity could also sample by village rather than school, and employ a random selection process for participant recruitment. Future studies conducting audiology 'in the field' would be also well-advised not only to use noise-attenuating headphones but to monitor ambient noise, as did Schmitz et al [25]. This would allow the effect of ambient noise to be controlled for at the analysis stage.Lastly, pilot studies are needed to ensure treatment with ventilation tubes or hearing aids is as effective and well-tolerated it has been shown to be in developed countries such as the UK [19].…”

“…-The absence of ear pain and an inflamed tympanic membrane, indicative of acute otitis media. Participants with OME and excess but unimpacted cerumen (diagnosed by the presence of view-obstructing cerumen, a low auditory canal volume and a low compliance peak in the tympanogram) were not excluded, as previous studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of HI is not significantly greater in this group than in the general population [5,25].…”

“…We identified only one published study of good methodological quality on hearing loss and middle ear disease in Nepal [25]. Whilst Schmitz et al report that abnormal tympanometry increases the risk of HI compared to that of the general population (OR = 18), they do not quantify the hearing loss, or report the proportion of ears with both abnormal tympanometry and HI.…”

Prevalência de perda auditiva em adolescentes e adultos jovens decorrentes de exposição a ruído social: meta-análise

“…Scores, conducted with established criteria, revealed three studies were considered high [15][16][17] , thirteen of them moderate 10,18-29 and one study was low 30 (Table 1).…”