Multicentre cohort study of cochlear implantation outcomes in Thailand

OBJECTIVES: To report the status and outcomes of cochlear implantation in Thailand. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Tertiary care and university hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: Patients who underwent cochlear implant surgery in Thailand. INTERVENTIONS: This project collected data from all government and university hospitals in Thailand where cochlear implant surgery was performed between 2016 and 2020. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Baseline characteristics, operation data, complications, audiological outcomes and quality of life were reported. RESULTS: This study included 458 patients, and nearly half of the patients were children and adolescents (46.94%). The mean age of the patients was 2.96±5.83 years. At 1 year postoperatively, the mean pure tone average of the hearing threshold in the implanted ear significantly improved from unaided preoperative baseline (mean difference (MD) 64.23 dB HL; 95% CI 59.81 to 68.65; p<0.001). The mean speech recognition threshold also improved (MD 55.96 dB HL; 95% CI 49.50 to 62.42, p<0.001). The quality-of-life scores of the EQ-5D-5L, PedsQL and HUI3 questionnaires at 1 year showed improved mobility (range, 0–5; MD 0.65; 95% CI 0.05 to 1.25; p=0.037), hearing (range, 0–6; MD 0.96; 95% CI 0.30 to 1.61; p=0.006) and speech (range, 0–5; MD 0.44; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.84; p=0.031). Common complications included electrode dislodgement (2.18%), vertigo (1.23%) and meningitis (1.93%). CONCLUSIONS: Excellent audiological outcomes and improvement in the quality of life in the mobility, hearing and speech domains were observed in patients who underwent cochlear implantation in Thailand.