title: Prevalence and Social Risk Factors for Hearing Impairment in Chinese Children-A National Survey.
abstract: Hearing impairment may affect children's communication skills, social development, and educational achievement. Little is known about the prevalence of hearing impairment among Chinese children. Data were taken from the 2006 second China National Survey on Disability (CNSD). Hearing impairment was defined as moderate (41-60 dB HL), severe (61-80 dB HL), profound (81-90 dB HL), or complete (>91 dB HL). Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). A weighted number of 567,915 hearing impairment children were identified, yielding a prevalence of 17.49 per 10,000 people (95% CI: 16.90-18.08), with prevention or treatment options possible for 64.6% of hearing impairment children. The main causes of hearing impairment were hereditary, tympanitis, and drug intoxication. Illiteracy in one or both parents (mother: OR = 1.388, 95% CI: 1.125-1.714,p< 0.0001; father: OR = 1.537, 95% CI: 1.152-2.049,p< 0.0001 relative to no school or primary school), annual family income lower than national average (OR = 1.323, 95% CI: 1.044-1.675,p= 0.0203, relative to higher than national average), household size larger than three people (OR = 1.432, 95% CI: 1.164-1.762,p= 0.0007, relative to smaller than three people) and single-mother family (OR = 2.056, 95% CI: 1.390-3.042,p= 0.0176, relative to intact family) were the independence risk factors for hearing impairment among Chinese children. Lower annual family income, male children, larger household size, single-mother family, and lower levels of maternal and paternal education were independent risk factors for hearing impairment for Chinese children. Further studies on hearing impairment prevention and the relationship between parental social factors and the risk of hearing impairment are needed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. chunfengyun@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chunfeng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. zhenjie.wang@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhenjie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. gaojmin@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiamin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. pkuheping@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. chaoguo@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. chengong@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Gong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. xzheng@pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: China; children; hearing impairment; risk factor