Prevalence and risk factors for hearing disorders in secondary school students in Ismailia, Egypt.

This study estimated the prevalence of hearing disorders and associated risk factors in a 10% sample of all secondary-school students in Ismailia city, Egypt. All participants were given a questionnaire and Weber and Rinne tests for hearing disabilities. Among 2633 students, the prevalence of hearing loss was 22.2%, mostly sensorineural hearing loss. More students at technical schools had mixed sensorineural and conductive hearing loss (46.2%) than students at general (28.6%) or commercial (25.3%) schools. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified the number of attacks of otitis media, history of ear disease treatment, history of admission to fever hospital and history of ear surgery as independent risk factors for sensorineural hearing loss.