Hearing impairment and socioeconomic factors: a population-based survey of an urban locality in southern Brazil Deficiencia auditiva y factores socioeconómicos: estudio de base poblacional en una localidad urbana del sur de Brasil

• Main Authors: Jorge Umberto Béria, Beatriz Carmen Warth Raymann, Luciana Petrucci Gigante, Andréia Cristina Leal Figueiredo, Geraldo Jotz, Renato Roithman, Sady Selaimen da Costa, Vera Garcez, Caroline Scherer, Andrew Smith
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2007
• Subjects: Sordera; pérdida auditiva; Brasil; Deafness; hearing loss; Brazil; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/60b6986482dc466e825c79a5e2418899

OBJECTIVE: To provide the first population-based data on deafness and hearing impairment in Brazil. METHODS: In 2003, a cross-sectional household survey was conducted of 2 427 persons 4 years old and over. The study population was composed of 1 040 systematically chosen households in 40 randomly selected census tracts (dwelling clusters) in the city of Canoas, which is in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil. Hearing function was evaluated in all subjects by both pure-tone audiometry and physical examination, using the World Health Organization Ear and Hearing Disorders Survey Protocol and definitions of hearing levels. The socioeconomic data that were gathered included the amount of schooling of all individuals tested and the income of the head of the household. RESULTS: It was found that 26.1% of the population studied showed some level of hearing impairment, and 6.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 5.5%-8.1%) were classified in the disabling hearing impairment group. The prevalence of moderate hearing loss was 5.4% (95% CI = 4.4%-6.4%); for severe hearing loss, 1.2% (95% CI = 0.7%-1.7%); and for profound hearing loss, 0.2% (95% CI = 0.03%-0.33%). The groups at higher risk for hearing loss were men (odds ratio (OR) = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.06-2.23); participants 60 years of age and over (OR = 12.55; 95% CI = 8.38-18.79); those with fewer years of formal schooling (OR = 3.92; 95% CI = 2.14-7.16); and those with lower income (OR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.06-2.27). CONCLUSIONS: These results support advocacy by health policy planners and care providers for the prevention of deafness and hearing impairment. The findings could help build awareness in the community, in universities, and in government agencies of the health care needs that hearing problems create. OBJETIVO: Presentar los primeros datos de un estudio de base poblacional sobre sordera y deficiencia auditiva en Brasil. MÉTODOS: Se realizó una encuesta transversal de hogares en 2003 en la que participaron 2 427 personas de 4 años de edad o más. La ...