The prevalence of hearing impairment in the 6 months – 5 years HIV/AIDS-positive patients attending paediatric infectious disease clinic at Mulago Hospital Ndoleriire Christopher a, *, Turitwenka Edward b , Bakeera-Kitaaka Sabrina c , Nyabigambo Agnes d a Makerere University, College of Health Sciences, Department of ENT, P.O. Box 7072, Makerere College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda b Makerere University, College of Health Sciences, Department of ENT, Uganda c Makerere University, College of Health Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, Uganda d Makerere University, College of Health Sciences, Infectious Diseases Institute, Uganda 1. Introduction Children living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at risk of hearing impairment [1]. In Uganda, the national adult HIV prevalence is 7.3% [2], in the under 5 children is 0.7%, approximately 1.1 million people are living with HIV in Uganda and of these more than 520,000 are women and about 110,000 are children [3]. Utilization of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has given an opportunity to children living with HIV to live onto adulthood and develop their desires [4]. As a result of prolonged lifespan, acute and chronic infections like otitis media may develop leading to hearing impairment [5]. However, prevalence of hearing impairment is not well documented in sub-Saharan Africa. Hearing impairment is one form of disability children with HIV/AIDS face [5]. It interferes with acquisition of verbal language and communication skills. Delay in acquisition of language and communication skills affects other developmental aspects of life like educational achievement, self esteem, long term employment opportunities and all these sum up to high financial losses to affected families and society as a whole [6]. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 77 (2013) 262–265 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 12 December 2011 Received in revised form 8 November 2012 Accepted 9 November 2012 Available online 1 December 2012 Keywords: Conductive hearing loss Degrees of hearing loss Hearing loss HIV/AIDS Mixed hearing loss Pediatrics Sensorineural hearing loss A B S T R A C T Introduction: Hearing impairment is one form of disability in children living with HIV/AIDS. It greatly interferes with their language development, communication and performance. These are stressful to the children and their caretakers. With increasing availability of free anti-retroviral therapy, children with HIV/AIDS are living much longer. Therefore efforts must be made to reduce the disability resulting from hearing impairment among children living with HIV. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, types and severity of hearing loss in HIV positive pediatric patients between 6 months and 5 years of age attending PIDC, Mulago Hospital Uganda. Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study among 370 HIV/AIDS pediatric patients between 6 months and 5 years of age at PIDC Mulago. In this study, hearing impairment was defined as any auditory brainstem response (ABR) average threshold of over 25 dBnHL at frequencies of 500 Hz to 4000 Hz. This was done using a VIVOSONIC VIVOLINK ABR machine and a tympanogram was acquired from each ear. Systematic random sampling was carried out to reach individual participants. Proportions were used to estimate prevalence of hearing impairment in this age group. Results: A total of 370 participants were recruited, with mean age of 38 months and median age of 36 months. The ratio of male to female was 1:1. The majority 172/370 (46.5%) of the participants were of WHO stage III. The prevalence of hearing loss in the 6 months to 5 years HIV/AIDS positive patients was found to be 121/370 (33.0%). The majority 77/121 (64.0%) of the participants had sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Of these with SNHL 44% had mild (26–40 dBHL) hearing loss. Conclusions: The prevalence of hearing among pediatric HIV/AIDS patients between the 6 months and 5 years was found to be high with sensorineural hearing loss being the most prevalent. Therefore HIV/AIDS paediatric patients should have routine screening for hearing impairment. A prospective cohort study should be designed to assess the risk of acquisition of hearing loss in children living with HIV. ß 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +256 772 824608. E-mail address: nchris2k@yahoo.com (N. Christopher). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology jo ur n al ho m ep ag e: ww w.els evier .c om /lo cat e/ijp o r l 0165-5876/$ – see front matter ß 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2012.11.013