title: Profile of patients assessed for cochlear implants.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Knowledge of the characteristics related to profound hearing loss is a matter of great importance, as it allows for the etiological and prognostic identification and strategic planning for public health interventions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the different etiologies of hearing loss, age at diagnosis of the hearing loss, its relation to language acquisition, and the age at the first consultation in this service for cochlear implant assessment.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a historical cohort, cross-sectional study, using retrospective analysis of the records of 115 patients with confirmed sensorineural hearing loss, who were followed in a university hospital, based on gender, age of hearing loss, age at the first consultation, language, and hearing loss etiology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of patients assessed for cochlear implants attend the first consultation when they are older than one year (an alarming mean of 3.8 years in the prelingual group) in spite of the early diagnosis of hearing loss. This reflects an already deficient health care system, in terms of referral. The idiopathic cause remains the most frequently identified. Among the known causes, the most prevalent are perinatal causes and meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Service of Otorhinolaryngology, Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho (HUCFF-UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Electronic address: mariahelena_barbosa@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Maria Helena de Magalhães
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Hospital dos Servidores do Estado (HSE/RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Felippe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Felix
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Puricultura e Pediatria Martagão Gesteira (IPPMG), Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho (HUCFF-UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcia Gonçalves
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cintia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Monica Machado
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Baptista
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cochlear implants; Health profile; Hearing loss, bilateral; Implante coclear; Perda auditiva bilateral; Perfil de saúde