Causes of severe to profound deafness in Omani paediatric population

Abstract

The study includes a retrospective analysis of causes of deafness in 1400 Omani children who were detected to be suffering from severe to profound levels of hearing impairment. A standard form was used to collect various details from the otolaryngologists all over the country. The time period included is from 1986 to 2000. The rate of consanguineous marriage in the parents of the affected children was 70%, and 67.8% of these children had a sibling suffering from hearing impairment. There has been a rapid evolution of the antenatal, perinatal and neonatal care delivery in Oman during last couple of decades. The Omani paediatric population has been well covered (>90%) under the vaccination protocols including rubella. It has helped in reducing the share of infectious diseases towards the hearing impairment. The study is an attempt to identify various causes of the identifiable causes of severe to profound hearing impairment in Omani paediatric population which is the first attempt of this kind in this country. Relevant literature has been reviewed.