title: Prevalence and patterns of hearing impairment in Egypt: a national household survey.
abstract: We conducted a national household survey to estimate the prevalence and causes of hearing impairment in Egypt. From 6 randomly selected governorates (Alexandria, Dakahlia, Luxor, Marsa Matrouh, Minia and North Sinai), 4000 individuals were screened for hearing loss. The prevalence of hearing loss was 16.0% with no significant sex differences. There were significant differences between the age groups and governorates: Marsa Matrouh had the highest prevalence of hearing loss (25.7%) and North Sinai the lowest (13.5%); those > or = 65 years had the highest prevalence (49.3%), but it was also high in those aged 0-4 years (22.4%). Otitis media with effusion (30.8%) was the commonest cause of hearing loss, followed by presbycusis (22.7%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Abdel-Hamid
authors.forename: O M N
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Khatib
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aly
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morad
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamel
mesh_terms: D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D015984:Causality; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000150:complications; D011304:Presbycusis / Q000150:complications; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric