Hearing screening in public school preschool child: analysis of social determinants

• Autor(a) principal: Broman, Eli Natáli
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: d’Ávila, Cristiane dos Santos, Pinto, Julia Dalcin, Battisti, Iara Denise Endruweit, Mattiazzi, Ângela Leusin, Biaggio, Eliara Pinto Vieira
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Saúde (Santa Maria)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsm.br/revistasaude/article/view/67686
• topic: Audição; Pré-escolar; Testes auditivos; Determinantes sociais de saúde; Criança; Hearing; Preschool child; Hearing tests; Social determinants of health; Child

Purpose: To describe the hearing screening results of preschoolers, as well as to verify the relationship between the hearing tests and social determinants of health. Methods: Quantitative, descriptive, explanatory research with a cross-sectional design. The sample comprised 186 children from a public school, 89 females and 97 males aged between two and six years. The hearing screening was composed of: meatoscopy, tympanometry, auditory airway threshold screening at the frequencies of 500 Hz to 4000 Hz and recording and analysis of Transient Otoacoustic Emissions (TOAE). As “pass” criteria, the following aspects were considered: normal meatoscopy, tympanometric curve of type A, normal auditory thresholds at all frequencies and presence of TOAE on both ears. Failing to accomplish at least one of the procedures was considered as a “fail” in the screening. As for the social determinants of health, a questionnaire prepared by the authors and the Brazilian Economic Classification Criteria was sent to the student. Descriptive analyzes and the following tests for associations were performed: Wilcoxon, chi-squared and Fisher’s exact. Results: 100 (53,8%) children “failed” the hearing screening. Tympanometry was the procedure in which the greater failing index was observed, followed by meatoscopy. Regarding the social determinants of health, no statistically significant association was observed between the social variables and the screening outcomes. Final considerations: A high index of “fail” was evidenced in the hearing screening, in which the predominant reason for the occurrence of such result was the presence of tympanometric curves from type B and/or C. The social determinants of health did not appear to be associated with the results of the hearing screening.