The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The prevalence of otitis media (OM) and related hearing loss has remained persistently high among some groups of Australian Aboriginal children who are also reported to have poor academic outcomes. The general literature remains inconclusive about the association between OM-related hearing loss and academic performance in primary school. This study aimed to investigate this association in Aboriginal children living in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia.

Methods

A retrospective, observational cohort study was conducted for 2208 NT Aboriginal children, aged about 8 years, living in remote and very remote communities. The explanatory variable was audiometrically determined hearing level as recorded in the Remote Hearing Assessment dataset. The outcome variable

SUBMITTER: Su JY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7542869 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature