P166: Health-Related Quality of Life in Hearing-Impaired Children

Abstract Purpose Assessing cochlear implant (CI)-associated patient outcomes is a focus of implant research. Most studies have analyzed outcomes retrospectively with low patient numbers and few measurement time points. In addition, standardized CI-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments have not been used. To address this, we prospectively assessed HRQoL in patients before and after implantation. Methods We assessed HRQoL using the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ), Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB), Hearing Participation Scale (HPS), and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) in 100 deaf or severely hearing-impaired patients (57 unilaterally deaf and 43 bilaterally deaf) before and 3, 6, and 12 months after cochlear implantation. We compared the results of unilaterally and bilaterally hearing-impaired patients and patients with or without a hearing aid. Principal component (PCA) and exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were also conducted. Results The NCIQ measured improvements in all 6 domains after CI and correlated well with other QoL instruments. The PCA revealed that the NCIQ can be better explained by physical, physical advanced, and socio-psychological components. The APHAB score ameliorated over time, except for the background noise domain. The overall HPS score improved over time, but the hearing handicap subscore significantly decreased. Sociodemographic influences on the questionnaire scores were relatively weak. Conclusion Assessing HRQoL is essential for quantifying the patient outcome after CI. NCIQ scores in our patient cohort showed improved HRQoL in all domains and we recommend that the NCIQ be used as a first-line questionnaire for assessing QoL in hearing-impaired patients after CI.

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Comparison of health-related quality of life in children with normal hearing and those with cochlear implant at age of 4-6 years

Journal of Fatima Jinnah Medical University ◽

10.37018/jfjmu.673 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 175-179

Author(s):

Noreen Anwar ◽

Tayyaba Dawood ◽

Munaza Hayyat ◽

Atia Ur Rehman ◽

Muhammad Adnan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Cochlear Implant ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Health Related Quality ◽

Related Quality ◽

Health Related ◽

Hearing Children

ABSTRACT Background: Hearing impairment during early life years have profound negative consequences on linguistic output, educational, psychosocial and physical functioning. Auditory perception plays a key role in the development of child. Severely hearing-impaired children receiving cochlear implant (CI) before the age of speech and language acquisition may enjoy their quality of life similar to their normally hearing peers. Considering the beneficial effects of CI on quality of life of hearing-impaired child, it is evident to properly investigate the similarity in life quality of children with CI and their normal hearing mates of same age group. Patients and Method: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on parents of 50 children, who were allocated in two equal groups by purposive sampling. The questionnaire was administered by interviewing the parent participants using a validated quality of life questionnaire of Children for Parents and findings were compared with the responses from parents of normal hearing children. Responses from both the groups were analyzed by independent sample t-test. Results: Parents of Cochlear Implanted children rated their children’s Health Related Quality of Life positively. All the sub domains showed the similar results except self-esteem. Findings suggest that normally hearing children had better self-esteem than CI children. No significant difference was found between overall Health Related Quality of Life of Cochlear Implanted children and their normally hearing peers. Conclusion: Overall health related quality of life of children with cochlear implant is similar to that of normal hearing peers of same chronological age.

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