Ear Care Nepal, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur-4, Nepal.
Ear Care Nepal, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur-4, Nepal.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Apr;143:110658. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2021.110658. Epub 2021 Feb 19.
The main objective of this study is to identify the prevalence of hearing loss in school aged children of Nepal.
This cross-sectional study was carried out on school aged children attending the government run schools of Nepal. A total of 79,340 children from grades 1 through 10 were included in the study. After taking brief history about ear diseases and hearing loss, children were screened for ear diseases in their respective classroom by otoscope. Hearing evaluation was carried out by pure tone audiometer and hearing threshold was obtained at 0.5-4 kHz. The results were then documented and analyzed.
The prevalence of hearing impairment in school aged children in Nepal is found to be 5.73% (4551 of 79,340). Conductive hearing loss was the most common type of hearing loss and was observed in 70.47% (n = 3207) of the children.
This study shows that hearing loss is a common problem in children of Nepal. With the main cause of hearing loss due to preventable conditions such as chronic otitis media, it is believed that early standardized screening, detection and timely management of chronic otitis media in these children can prevent hearing loss and its impact on their educational, social and language development. School based ear health programs are a useful community-oriented solution for prevention of deafness. It shows how important it is to introduce hearing screening for primary school aged children to prevent hearing loss.
本研究的主要目的是确定尼泊尔学龄儿童听力损失的患病率。
这是一项在尼泊尔政府运营的学校就读的学龄儿童中进行的横断面研究。共有 79340 名 1 至 10 年级的儿童纳入研究。在简要了解耳部疾病和听力损失病史后，使用耳镜在各个教室对儿童进行耳部疾病筛查。通过纯音听力计进行听力评估，并在 0.5-4 kHz 获得听力阈值。然后记录和分析结果。
尼泊尔学龄儿童听力障碍的患病率为 5.73%（79340 名儿童中有 4551 名）。传导性听力损失是最常见的听力损失类型，在 70.47%（n=3207）的儿童中观察到。
本研究表明，听力损失是尼泊尔儿童的一个常见问题。由于慢性中耳炎等可预防的原因导致听力损失的主要原因，因此认为对这些儿童进行早期标准化筛查、检测和及时管理慢性中耳炎可以预防听力损失及其对教育、社会和语言发展的影响。以学校为基础的耳部健康计划是一种有用的面向社区的解决方案，可预防耳聋。它展示了为防止听力损失，对小学年龄儿童进行听力筛查的重要性。
