Piotrowska Anna, Raj-Koziak Danuta, Lorens Artur, Skarżyński Henryk
Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Mochnackiego 10, 02-042 Warsaw, Poland.
Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Mochnackiego 10, 02-042 Warsaw, Poland.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2015 Aug;79(8):1346-50. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2015.06.008. Epub 2015 Jun 11.
To assess prevalence and risk factors of tinnitus reported by 7- and 12-year-old children from primary schools in Warsaw. A secondary objective was to test the relationship between hearing loss and tinnitus prevalence.
Observational cross-sectional study of 15,199 students aged 7 and 12 years (66.9% of the students of those ages) from all 173 public primary schools in Warsaw in the school year 2012/13. Audiometric hearing threshold levels were determined for the right and left ear of each student at frequencies of 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 8kHz. Normal hearing was defined as air threshold values of 20dB HL or less for all tested frequencies. Unilateral and bilateral hearing loss cases were included into the analysis. Tinnitus experience was assessed with an audiological questionnaire administered verbally to the children.
Overall 6.0% of the 7- and 12-year-old students reported tinnitus lasting for 5min or more. The prevalence of tinnitus was significantly related to the hearing loss and age. Children with the unilateral high-frequency hearing loss reported tinnitus significantly less often compared to other children from the unilateral loss group. Children with bilateral moderate hearing loss reported tinnitus significantly more often than other children from the bilateral hearing loss group. Frequency of tinnitus reported by children was equal between the sexes and also between the children with unilateral and bilateral hearing loss.
Results obtained in this study with a large sample suggest that hearing loss and young age can be considered potential risk factors for tinnitus in school-age children. A consensus on how to define tinnitus is needed in order to enable direct comparison between data from different studies.
评估华沙小学7岁和12岁儿童耳鸣的患病率及危险因素。次要目的是检验听力损失与耳鸣患病率之间的关系。
对2012/13学年华沙所有173所公立小学的15199名7岁和12岁学生（占该年龄段学生的66.9%）进行观察性横断面研究。测定每名学生左右耳在0.5、1、2、4和8kHz频率下的听阈水平。正常听力定义为所有测试频率的气导阈值均为20dB HL或更低。将单侧和双侧听力损失病例纳入分析。通过对儿童进行口头听力问卷调查来评估耳鸣经历。
总体而言，7岁和12岁学生中有6.0%报告耳鸣持续5分钟或更长时间。耳鸣患病率与听力损失和年龄显著相关。与单侧听力损失组的其他儿童相比，单侧高频听力损失儿童报告耳鸣的频率明显较低。双侧中度听力损失儿童报告耳鸣的频率明显高于双侧听力损失组的其他儿童。儿童报告耳鸣的频率在性别之间以及单侧和双侧听力损失儿童之间是相等的。
本研究通过大样本获得的结果表明，听力损失和低龄可被视为学龄儿童耳鸣的潜在危险因素。为了能够直接比较不同研究的数据，需要就如何定义耳鸣达成共识。
