Ear health and hearing in urban Aboriginal children

Jack DeLacy¹, Leonie Burgess², Mandy Cutmore², Simone Sherriff³, Susan Woolfenden⁴, Kathleen Falster⁴, Emily Banks⁵, Alison Purcell⁶, Kelvin Kong⁷, Harvey Coates⁸, John Curotta⁹, Markeeta Douglas¹⁰, Kym Slater¹¹, Aleathia Thompson¹², Jacqueline Stephens¹³, Juanita Sherwood¹⁴, Peter McIntyre¹⁵, Jean Tsembis², Michelle Dickson⁶, Jonathan Craig¹³, Hasantha Gunasekera¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Sax Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: jack.delacy@sydney.edu.au.
² The Sax Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Sax Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁴ The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁵ Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
⁶ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁷ Newcastle Private Medical Suites, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
⁸ University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁹ Sydney Children's Hospital Network, Australia.
¹⁰ Awabakal Aboriginal Medical Service, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
¹¹ Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
¹² Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia.
¹³ Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
¹⁴ The University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia.
¹⁵ University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ, Australia.
¹⁶ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

PMID: 37517360
DOI: 10.1016/j.anzjph.2023.100075

Free article

Ear health and hearing in urban Aboriginal children

Jack DeLacy et al. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2023 Aug.

Free article

. 2023 Aug;47(4):100075.

doi: 10.1016/j.anzjph.2023.100075. Epub 2023 Jul 28.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Sax Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: jack.delacy@sydney.edu.au.
² The Sax Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Sax Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁴ The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁵ Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
⁶ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁷ Newcastle Private Medical Suites, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
⁸ University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁹ Sydney Children's Hospital Network, Australia.
¹⁰ Awabakal Aboriginal Medical Service, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
¹¹ Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
¹² Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia.
¹³ Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
¹⁴ The University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia.
¹⁵ University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ, Australia.
¹⁶ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

PMID: 37517360
DOI: 10.1016/j.anzjph.2023.100075

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate ear health and hearing among urban Aboriginal children and quantify relationships with child, family and social factors.

Methods: Baseline questionnaire and ear health examinations from 1430 children with diagnoses (0.5-18 years) attending Aboriginal Health Services enrolled in SEARCH. Ear health outcomes were Otitis Media (OM), and hearing loss (three-frequency average hearing loss >20dB) diagnosed using pneumatic otoscopy, tympanometry, and audiometry.

Results: Half the children 0.5-3 years had OM (51.5%, 136/264). One third 0.5-18 years (30.4%; 435/1430) had OM, including 1.8% (26/1430) with perforation (0.8% chronic suppurative OM, 0.6% dry perforation and 0.4% acute OM with perforation). One quarter 0.5-18 years (25.7%; 279/1087) had hearing loss; 12.4% unilateral, 13.2% bilateral (70.6% with bilateral loss had concurrent OM). OM was associated with: younger age (0.5-<3 years versus 6-18 years) age-sex-site; adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR)=2.64, 95%, 2.18-3.19); attending childcare/preschool (aPR=1.24, 95%CI, 1.04-1.49); foster care (aPR=1.40, 95%CI, 1.10-1.79); previous ear infection/s (aPR=1.68, 95%CI, 1.42-1.98); and ≥2 people/bedroom (aPR=1.66, 95%CI, 1.24-2.21). Hearing impairment was associated with younger age (0.5-<6 years vs. ≥6 years aPR=1.89, 95%CI, 1.40-2.55) and previous ear infection (aPR=1.87, 95%CI, 1.31-2.68).

Conclusions: Half the urban Aboriginal children in this cohort had OM and two-thirds with hearing impairment had OM.

Implications for public health: Findings highlight importance of early detection and support for ear health, particularly in pre-school-aged children with risk factors.

Keywords: Aboriginal; Indigenous; ear health; hearing; otitis media.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Ear health and hearing in urban Aboriginal children

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Ear health and hearing in urban Aboriginal children

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Conflict of interest statement

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