Relationship between proximity to a cochlear implant center and early presentation in children with congenital hearing loss.

OBJECTIVES: To  determine whether distance from a cochlear implant (CI) center can influences the ages of presentation and intervention for CI, which thus may influence CI outcomes in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This study comprised a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of 221 patients who presented to the CI committee between March 2016 and March 2018 at King Abdullah Ear Specialist Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Through phone interviews and patients' files, age at suspicion, audiology testing, diagnosis, hearing aid fitting, and CI discussion were recorded for prelingually deaf children; additionally, demographic information were recorded. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on the distance between their place of residence and the nearest CI center (residing within 200 km, 200-500 km, and greater than 500 km). RESULTS: Patients living within 200 km showed the youngest mean age for all tested checkpoints; however, there were no statistically significant differences among the groups. CONCLUSION: In Saudi Arabia, distance from CI center does not have a significant effect on age of presentation for CI intervention.

Factors influencing urology physicians in Saudi Arabia for choosing their subspecialty program.

AIM: The aim of the study was to identify factors that influence urology physicians for choosing subspecialty and to know the most competitive urology subspecialty among residents. METHODOLOGY: An online questionnaire was sent to all Saudi Urology residents, registrars, and fellows all over Saudi Arabia, during February 2019-June 2019. The survey included demographic data, level and location of training, a subspecialty of interest, as well as 15 influencing factors that could affect physicians' choice in the form of Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree = 0 to strongly agree = 4. RESULTS: Of the 193 urology Saudi physicians, 85 replied (44.1%). Their mean age was 29 + 3.2 years. The majority of them were male (98.8%). There were 66 (77.6%) residents, 12 (14.1%) were fellows, and 7 (8.2%) were registrars. Four factors were found to be significantly different across positions, i.e., personal interest in the subspecialty, patient's prognosis, potential to join a private hospital, and family/friend advice. Among residents, the highest score means of the impact factors were the patient's prognosis, potential to join a private hospital and family/friend advice. The most prominent factors that influence urology physicians to select their subspecialty were personal interest in the specialty (88.2%), followed by the patient prognosis and lifestyle (84.7%, 78.8%). About 28.2% of the participants have a desire of endourology, followed by infertility and pediatric urology (23.5% and 20%, respectively). CONCLUSION: The most influencing factors among urology physicians for choosing their subspecialty are the patient's prognosis and personal interest. Female medical graduates should be encouraged to join a urology residency.