Risk factors associated with the diagnosis of Sensorineural Hearing Loss in children

Abstract

The hearing loss is the most frequent sensory alteration of the human being, with numerous medical, social, emotional and cultural implications. It is a multicausal pathology and is related to many risk factors. Identify the risk factors for the appearance of hearing loss in the child. Method: A sample of 81 children under 3 years of age with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss was taken, in which the variables studied were the risk factors for hearing loss defi ned by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing. Results: Values of the risk factors were found, with the following percentages: hypoxia (55.41%), gestational age less than 30 weeks (27%), weight less than 1500 grams (17.57%), ototoxic drugs (17.57%), jaundice with exsanguineous-transfusion (10.81%), meningitis (9.46%), jaundice treated with phototherapy (9.46%) and TORCH (6.76%). It was found that patients with hearing loss can present one to four risk factors, while in relation to sex again; the hypoxia risk factor has the highest percentage (male 31.59% and female 37.5%). Conclusions: It is clear that the patients analyzed have one or several risk factors related to hearing loss. In our case, hypoxia was the factor that most occurred. Therefore, without the realization of a hearing screening for early detection of deafness, the average age of diagnosis is around three years, when parents or educators begin to detect the fi rst manifestations.