Aetiology of deafness in children from a school for the deaf in Malaysia

A preliminary report of the pattern of ear disease among students attending a school for people with disabilities in Samoa

Objectives

The Ear, Nose, and Throat Department of Samoa is developing a school outreach service, and the aim of this study is to determine the pattern of ear disease among students attending a school for people with disabilities in Samoa.

Methods

The study design is a prospective study of a 2-day outreach visit to a school for people with disabilities by the Samoan Ear, Nose, and Throat team who recorded their clinical findings (N = 28). Two Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialists performed ear examinations for each student and recorded their diagnosis and recommendations as per routine Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic protocols on a purposefully designed form based on the World Health Organization Ear and Hearing Survey. This information was entered into an Excel spreadsheet for descriptive statistical analysis.

Results

Results showed that 39% (n = 11) of students passed their initial ear examination, while 61% (n = 17) of students presented with at least one ear condition requiring Ear, Nose, and Throat intervention. The most common pathology was impacted wax (n = 15 ears). Following the Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic outreach visit, 21 students (75%) no longer required Ear, Nose, and Throat or medical services, five students (18%) required a medical prescription for the treatment of ear disease, and two students (7%) were referred to the Ear, Nose, and Throat Department for further review.

Conclusion

Students attending schools for people with disabilities are a priority population for the Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinical service outreach programme.

Clinical Genetic Study of 144 Patients With Nonsyndromic Hearing Loss

Hearing loss constitutes an important category of congenital defects that can be isolated or part of the phenotypic spectrum of several syndromes. A clinical genetic study was performed on a sample of 144 patients with nonsyndromic hearing loss, establishing the sex distribution, type, degree, symmetry, laterality, progression, etiology, and, when possible, inheritance pattern.

Etiology of deafness in Afyon school for the deaf in Turkey

OBJECTIVE

Otolaryngologists play an important role in the evaluation of children with a hearing impairment. The group of unknown cause still has a high incidence. The purposes of this study were to determine the etiology of deafness in Afyon School for the Deaf in Turkey and to compare the results with the other studies from Turkey and other countries.

METHODS

This study was a retrospective analysis of 130 deaf students, aged 5-16 years. Medical and family histories of the children were obtained. Clinical and laboratory examinations were carried out.

RESULTS

Etiological groups showed the following distribution: febril convulsion, 26.9%; cause unknown, 26.1%; hereditary group, 23.8%; meningitis, 10%; measles, 6.1%; and miscellaneous, 6.6%. A total of 90.3% of the students with hereditary deafness were from consanguineous families. A marital consanguinity was noted in the parents of 64 (49.2%) of all children in the school and this rate was higher than the average in Turkey (P<0.05). Neither syndromic deafness nor maternal rubella was identified. A total of 27.6% of the cases were diagnosed after the age of 30 months.

CONCLUSION

Febril convulsions and hereditary factors were the major causes of hearing loss in the present study. The high incidence of consanguineous marriage among the parents of the children with hereditary deafness seemed a strong evidence of genetic origin, indicating a close relationship between them. Congenital rubella syndrome did not appear as a significant etiology of deafness in Turkey.

Aetiology of deafness among children at the Buguruni School for the Deaf in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

To identify the causes of deafness, 354 pupils attending the Buguruni School for the Deaf in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were studied. Of these children 205 were boys and 149 were girls, a sex ratio of 1.4:1. The onset of deafness was congenital in 36 (10.2%) and acquired in 318 (89.8%). Among the children with acquired deafness, the cause was unknown in 77 (24.2%); meningitis in 76 (23.9%), ototoxicity in 66 (20.8%), mumps in 53 (16.7%) febrile convulsions in five (1.5%), otitis media in 28 (8.8%) and measles in 13 (4.1%). Among the children with congenital deafness, only ten (27.8%) were identified before the age of 2 years. The findings indicate that most (75.8%) of the causes of acquired deafness are preventable through immunisation, early diagnosis and proper treatment of ear infections and avoidance of prescription of ototoxic drugs. This emphasizes the need for programmes aimed at improving the health services at primary levels of health care which will in turn prevent deafness.