Pathological and clinical profile of hearing loss among Sudanese children attending the Khartoum Teaching Hospital

BACKGROUND: Hearing loss is a common disability affecting nearly 360 million people in the world and 75% of cases live in developing countries. Many children are vulnerable to diseases causing hearing loss that often go untreated. The aim of this study is to identify the possible etiological factors and clinical presentations of children who presented with hearing loss at the Khartoum Teaching Hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: a descriptive, cross-sectional hospital-based study. A total of 100 (response rate of 94%) children aged 5–15 who presented with hearing loss at Khartoum Teaching Hospital were included in this study. A detailed structured, pretested, and pre-coded questionnaire was used. After data collection, hearing examination was performed by an E.N.T specialist, then audiometry performed to diagnose hearing loss and for classification of the hearing loss type. Discriptive Statisistics frequencies and cross-tabulation were done. A Chi-square test was used for proportions. A P value of less than 0.05 considered significant. RESULTS: Out of 100 patients, 68 patients (68%) belonged to the 5–10 years age group. The mean age was 8.5 years. The male to female ratio was 1.00–1.13. Conductive hearing loss was found in 66% of the studied group, sensory-neural hearing loss in 23% and the mixed type in 11%. Regarding the etiology, otitis media was found in 41 of patients (41%), congenital hearing loss in 22% (22 patients), traumatic hearing loss in 4%, sickle cell anemia in 2%, mumps in 14%, diabetes mellitus in 3%, and measles in 8% of the patients. In conclusion, a number of preventable causes were shown to contribute significantly to the etiology of hearing loss. CONCLUSION: The commonest factors associated with hearing loss among participants were otitis media and hereditary causes, respectively. Further community-based studies of hearing-impaired children are necessary for planning effective preventive and curative programs.