Prevalence of hearing impairment and ear disorders among school children in Kigali, Rwanda

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of hearing impairment and ear disorders among school children in Kigali, Rwanda. Design: Descriptive cross-sectional survey. Participants: School children 6-13 years in the selected schools. Main outcome measure: Hearing impairment, defined as audiometric threshold values of more than 25 dB HL at any of the testing frequencies (1, 2 and 4 kHz). Methods and materials: A total of 1073 children from eleven public primary schools in the city were randomly selected and examined. Otoscopy, tympanometry and audiometry screening was carried for all the study participants. Children who failed audiometry screening had pure tone audiometry done to determine their hearing thresholds. Results: The prevalence of hearing impairment was 13.3% with 11.4% due to conductive hearing impairment, 1.2% sensorineural hearing impairment and 0.9% as mixed hearing impairment. The prevalence of disabling hearing impairment was 1.4%. The commonest ear disorder was impacted wax found in 18% of the children followed by Otitis media with effusion accounting for 6.7%. Conclusion: The prevalence of hearing impairment in Kigali is high. Conductive hearing impairment is the commonest and most of the causes are preventable and/or treatable. There is an urgent need to create awareness among the general population and health care providers about the dangers of ear disease and its consequences on hearing and education of the children.