Lower thriving among females with hearing impairment than males - a cross-sectional study of 185 primary and secondary students in Greenland

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Cecilie Friis Skovsen, Jakob Schmidt Jensen, Ramon Gordon Jensen, Christina Schnohr
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021
• Subjects: “hearing impairment”; “social factors“; “adolescence”; “children”; “greenland”; “thriving”; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; Greenland; Sisimiut; Circumpolar Health; greenlandic; International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2021.1921995; https://doaj.org/article/01b1039379144a2581d7810f0337eaa5

The prevalence of ear infections and hearing i mpairment among Greenlandic children is amajor public health problem, and studies investigating the association between hearing impairment and thriving among Greenlandic children are scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hearing impairment and thriving in asample of school-children in Sisimiut, Greenland. This cross-sectional study included children from 5th to 10th grade from two schools in Sisimiut and two schools located in nearby settlements. Participants filled out aquestionnaire and underwent ear examination and audiometry. Binary logistic regression examined the associations of hearing impairment and thriving variables defined as self-rated health, headache and school satisfaction. 179 children participated from schools in Sisimiut, and 6 children were from schools in settlements. The prevalence of hearing impairment was 10% among school-children in Sisimiut. There was atendency among girls with hearing impairment to have higher odds ratios for low self-rated health, often headache and low school-satisfaction. This study indicates that girls with hearing impairment are more susceptible to low thriving compared to girls with normal hearing. Interventions targeting the thriving of hearing impairment among children in Greenland should take gender differences into account.