The Economic Costs of Congenital Bilateral Permanent Childhood Hearing Impairment

Abstract

The mean societal cost in the preceding year of life at 7 to 9 years of age was 14092.5 pound sterling for children with PCHI, compared with 4206.8 pound sterling for the normally hearing children, a cost difference of 9885.7 pound sterling. After adjusting for severity and other potential confounders in a linear regression model, mean societal costs among children with PCHI were reduced by 2553 pound sterling for each unit increase in the z score for receptive language. Using similar regression models, exposure to a program of UNS was associated with a smaller cost reduction of 2213.2 pound sterling, whereas costs were similar between children whose PCHI was confirmed at <9 or >9 months. CONCLUSIONS. The study provides rigorous evidence of the annual health, social, and broader societal cost of bilateral PCHI in the preceding year of life at 7 to 9 years of age and shows that it is related to its severity and has an inverse relationship with language abilities after adjustment for severity.

The global burden of disabling hearing impairment: a call to action

“…[1][2][3] If it develops in the young, such impairment impedes speech and language development and sets the affected children on a trajectory of limited educational and vocational attainment. [4][5][6] Children with hearing impairment may also be at increased risk of physical, social, emotional and sexual abuse and even murder. 7,8 In adulthood, disabling hearing impairment can lead to embarrassment, loneliness, social isolation and stigmatization, prejudice, abuse, psychiatric disturbance, depression, difficulties in relationships with partners and children, restricted career choices, occupational stress and relatively low earnings.…”

Programa de tamizaje universal e intervención precoz (PTUIP) en hipoacusia sensorioneural bilateral congénita: Tarea pendiente desde la perspectiva de políticas públicas de salud en Chile

“…Se han realizado estudios que comparan los costos que significa tener un discapacitado auditivo a lo largo de su vida, con sus implicancias académicas y productivas, versus un individuo socialmente activo. Los PTUIP han significado ahorro en millones a los Estados, y al sector salud un ahorro de prestaciones sanitarias a lo largo de toda la vida 36 .…”

“…En Inglaterra se estimaron gastos adicionales de cerca de USD 14.000 en niños hipoacúsicos versus niños sanos para el período entre el nacimiento y los 9 años, que aumentan en la medida que existen menores habilidades de lenguaje oral 36 . En Canadá un reporte informó que el costo de implementación total de un programa de pesquisa universal de hipoacusia fue de USD 5.200.000, pero con un beneficio en términos de ahorro por año de USD 1.700.000 principalmente por concepto de ahorro educacional y prestaciones sanitarias 34 .…”

Contralateral Suppression of Otoacoustic Emissions: Working Towards a Simple Objective Frequency Specific Test for Hearing Screening

“…This in turn has been shown to substantially compromise educational achievement and employment opportunity later in life (Allen, 1986;A. Davis et al, 1997;Schroeder et al, 2006;Thompson et al, 2001;Wake, Hughes, Poulakis, Collins, & Rickards, 2004a). The detrimental effects of profound hearing loss in children are summarized in Table 1.…”