Establishing the etiology of childhood hearing loss

The cause of hearing loss in children is often difficult to identify, We ev aluated a cohort of 114 children (47 boys, 67 girls) referred with newly di agnosed hearing loss (non-otitis media) to identify factors predictive of e tiology and type of hearing loss. Clinical (history and physical examinatio n), laboratory and radiographic data were collected, One hundred children ( 87.7%) had sensorineural hearing loss, and 14 (12.3%) had conductive or mix ed hearing loss. The cause of hearing loss was identified in 54 children (4 8%). Patients with isolated aural atresia (n = 7) or with a known diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus infection (n = 21) were excluded from furthe r data analysis. We conducted statistical analysis to identify factors pred ictive of the cause and type of hearing loss. Clinical factors that aided i n identifying a cause included abnormal physical examination findings (p = 0.001) and craniofacial anomalies (p = 0.006), Computed tomography of the t emporal bones was the only diagnostic test predictive of cause (p < 0.001), Factors predictive of the type of hearing loss detected (sensorineural vs. conductive or mixed) were abnormal physical examination findings (p = 0.01 ) and craniofacial anomalies (p = 0.004), An exhaustive laboratory or radio graphic workup did not prove beneficial in identifying the etiology of hear ing loss in our series.