Ear wax and hearing impairment in children in Nepal

The presence of wax is a common finding during ear examination of children and it is one of the main causes of avoidable hearing impairment in children. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of wax in ear and evaluate the hearing loss in school-aged children. This is a cross sectional school-based study conducted over a four-year period. Children aged 5-16 were examined by otoscope and pure tone hearing thresholds were obtained at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz frequencies. A total of 53,970 children from 312 schools of Kathmandu valley were screened. The prevalence of ear wax was 34.64% (n=18697) and hearing impairment associated with wax was 0.88% (n=475). Ear wax and associated hearing loss is a common problem in Nepalese children. Lack of trained personnel and the costs involved in its treatment makes ear wax a big challenge for Nepal's rudimentary health care system.