Hearing impairment in low birth weight children.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of hearing impairment in normal and low birth weight children. METHODS A survey of 9540 Saudi children below 15 years of age was carried out. The survey was performed in the provinces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from September 1994 to May 1998. The subjects were classified into low birth weight (up to 2.5 kg) and normal birth weight (>2.5 kg) groups. Each child was carefully examined for hearing status. RESULTS The results of this study showed significantly high prevalence of hearing impairment in low birth weight children (14.87%) as compared to normal birth weight children (9.78%). CONCLUSION Further studies are warranted to identify the potential risk factors associated with the high prevalence of hearing impairment in low birth weight children.

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