Ear Problems in Children of an Underprivileged Community of Delhi

Background: Ear diseases are important health problems among children in India and can result into hearing loss. In 2005, prevalence of deafness was 63 million in India, of which a large percentage was below 14 years. The growing magnitude of these problems made the Government of India initiate a National Programme for prevention and control of Deafness in 2006 but the pace of functioning is still behind the desired level.

Objective: The study was done to find out magnitude and pattern of ear problems among school age children in a resettlement colony of Delhi.

Methodology: The study was conducted in Kalyanpuri-a resettlement colony of Delhi. A total of 1398 school children aged (5-14 years) were studied in the year 2011. Study subjects and their parents were interviewed in details regarding ear complaints. All the subjects were also examined clinically. They were also screened for hearing impairment by history and Tuning fork test and subsequently confirmed by pure tone audiometry. The Data was analysed using SPSS version 12.

Results: Out of total 1398 subjects, 744 (53.2%) were boys and 654 (46.8%) girls and 1249 (89.3%) of them were school going. Ear problems were identified in 33.2% subjects. Wax was the commonest problem (23.4%) followed by ear infections (10.0%) and hearing impairment (7.2%). Hearing loss was mostly of mild degree (20-30 dB). Commonest type of hearing loss was found to be conductive in nature.

Conclusion and Recommendations: Health education, routine ear screening in schools and periodic ear screening camps are needed for prevention of ear problems.