Prevalence of hearing loss among children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus attending Paediatric Diabetic Clinic, Mulago Hospital.

Abstract

Introduction Hearing loss is one form of disability experienced by children with type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). As one of the complications, it has been reported more commonly in diabetic children than in non diabetic children. Uganda has an estimated 900 children under the age of 14 years with diabetes. In the developing world, the information about natural history and complications of T1DM in children is scanty. Hearing loss is distressing to children and their caretakers. It may interfere with their communication and school performance which has far reaching social and economic implications.

Objectives The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of hearing loss among children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus attending Paediatric Diabetic clinic Mulago Hospital.

Methods This was a descriptive cross sectional study on 86 T1DM children between 4years and 18years attending paediatic diabetic clinic Mulago Hospital between the months of November 2013 to April 2014. Consecutive sampling procedure was used to reach each participant under ethical considerations until the sample size was reached. An audiological assessment was carried out to determine degrees and configuration of hearing loss among the study population. This was done using an Audiometer of the KAPLEX KLD 21 type. The data was cleaned, coded and entered in the computer in the view section of EPI Info version 3, which was exported to Stata version 12 for data analysis.

Results A total of 86 children were recruited. The mean age of these children was 13 years while the range was 4-18 years. The prevalence of hearing loss among children with T1DM was found to be 26.7%. Of the 23 children with hearing loss, 22 (96%) had mild sensorineural hearing loss and 1(4%) had severe sensorineural hearing loss. Majority of the patient had greater losses at high frequencies.

Conclusion • The prevalence of hearing loss among T1DM children attending diabetic clinic was found to be 26.7%. • The hearing loss was sensorineural, binaural and mainly mild in degree. Majority (96%) of the patients had mild SNHL and only one had severe SNHL. • The hearing loss occurred across all the frequencies. Majority of the patients had bigger losses in high frequencies. Only two patients had low frequency loss.