Department of Special Needs Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Division of Surgery and Clinical Neuroscience, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Ear Hear. 2020 Mar/Apr;41(2):330-343. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000761.
The objective of this study was to assess self-reported health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in a group of children with cochlear implants (CIs) and to compare their scores to age- and gender-matched controls. The authors also assessed the agreement between proxy- and self-reported HR-QOL in the CI group and examined individual and environmental variables that could be associated with higher or lower self-reported HR-QOL in the CI group.
The sample consisted of 168 children between the ages of 5;6 and 13;1 (years;months), where 84 children had CIs (CI group) and 84 were age- and gender-matched controls with normal hearing (NH group). HR-QOL was assessed with the generic questionnaire Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Parents of the children in the CI group completed the same questionnaire as the children. In addition, the children in the CI group completed tests of language, hearing, and nonverbal I.Q. and background variables such as age at implantation and socioeconomic status were assessed.
On average, children with CIs rated their HR-QOL lower than peers with normal hearing on school functioning, social functioning, and overall HR-QOL. A higher percentage of children with CIs reported low levels of HR-QOL than did those in the NH group, 27% and 12%, respectively. The differences between groups were small, and fewer children than parents reported concerningly low HR-QOLs. Better spoken-language skills and older age at the time of testing was associated with better HR-QOL.
Most children with CIs in this study reported HR-QOLs that were close to those of their age- and gender-matched normal-hearing peers. The children, however, reported concerns about social and school functioning, indicating that these areas require more attention to ensure children with CIs have good HR-QOL. Improving spoken-language skills in children with CIs may contribute to improved HR-QOL.
本研究旨在评估一组人工耳蜗植入（CI）儿童的自我报告健康相关生活质量（HR-QOL），并将其得分与年龄和性别匹配的对照组进行比较。作者还评估了 CI 组中代理报告和自我报告 HR-QOL 之间的一致性，并检查了可能与 CI 组中自我报告 HR-QOL 较高或较低相关的个体和环境变量。
该样本由 168 名年龄在 5 岁 6 个月至 13 岁 11 个月的儿童组成，其中 84 名儿童接受了 CI（CI 组），84 名年龄和性别匹配的听力正常儿童（NH 组）作为对照组。HR-QOL 使用通用问卷儿童生活质量量表进行评估。CI 组儿童的父母完成了与儿童相同的问卷。此外，CI 组儿童还完成了语言、听力和非语言智商测试以及植入年龄和社会经济地位等背景变量的评估。
平均而言，CI 儿童在学校功能、社交功能和整体 HR-QOL 方面自我报告的 HR-QOL 低于听力正常的同龄人。与 NH 组相比，有更多的 CI 儿童报告 HR-QOL 水平较低，分别为 27%和 12%。组间差异较小，且报告 HR-QOL 较低的儿童少于父母。更好的口语技能和测试时年龄较大与更好的 HR-QOL 相关。
本研究中大多数 CI 儿童报告的 HR-QOL 接近年龄和性别匹配的听力正常同龄人。然而，儿童报告对社交和学校功能的担忧，表明这些领域需要更多关注，以确保 CI 儿童拥有良好的 HR-QOL。改善 CI 儿童的口语技能可能有助于提高 HR-QOL。
