Deafness: Epidemiological, Clinical and Therapeutic Aspects in 15 Year Olds and over at the University Hospital Center Gabriel Toure of Bamako

Abstract

Objective: To study the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic aspects of hearing loss in 15-year-olds and over at the CHU GT of Bamako. Materials and Method: This is a longitudinal prospective study carried out in the ENT department of the University hospital Gabriel Toure in Bamako over 13 months (from September 2018 to September 2019). We carried out an exhaustive sampling of all the patients who consulted in the department for hearing loss and whose deafness was confirmed at pure tone audiometry with age greater than or equal to 15 years. The exclusion criteria were all patients under the age of 15 as well as a hearing loss related to earwax or foreign bodies and refusals to participate in the study. Results: Two hundred and thirty (230) patients were collected during the study. Dominated by the male sex with a sex ratio of 1.5 or 3 men for 2 women, with an average age of 38.16 ± 19 years with extremes ranging from 15 to 86 years. Among our patients, 37.40% had unilateral deafness, progressive installation evolving more than 12 weeks with a rate of cases had headaches 41% and had a history of chronic otitis media (CMO) 27%. There were a few cases of mixed type deafness, 30% had mild deafness, 22% moderate deafness and 40% severe deafness, according to the BIAP classification. Among our patients, 22.16% had conductive hearing loss, and those with sensorineural hearing loss accounted for 15.24%. Conclusion: Pure tone audiometry remains essential in the diagnosis of deafness. It not only makes it possible to confirm or invalidate the deafness, but also to define the type of deafness and especially to classify the deafness according to the degree of the average hearing loss established by the BIAP.