The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study

Abstract Background The prevalence of otitis media (OM) and related hearing loss has remained persistently high among some groups of Australian Aboriginal children who are also reported to have poor academic outcomes. The general literature remains inconclusive about the association between OM-relat...

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Main Authors: Jiunn-Yih Su, Steven Guthridge, Vincent Yaofeng He, Damien Howard, Amanda Jane Leach
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2020-10-01
Series:BMC Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-020-09620-6
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spelling doaj-e25ac1de0f0f405b9e4372382b19459a2020-11-25T03:42:10ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582020-10-0120111310.1186/s12889-020-09620-6The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage studyJiunn-Yih Su0Steven Guthridge1Vincent Yaofeng He2Damien Howard3Amanda Jane Leach4Centre for Child Development and Education, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin UniversityCentre for Child Development and Education, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin UniversityCentre for Child Development and Education, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin UniversityPhoenix ConsultingChild Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin UniversityAbstract Background The prevalence of otitis media (OM) and related hearing loss has remained persistently high among some groups of Australian Aboriginal children who are also reported to have poor academic outcomes. The general literature remains inconclusive about the association between OM-related hearing loss and academic performance in primary school. This study aimed to investigate this association in Aboriginal children living in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia. Methods A retrospective, observational cohort study was conducted for 2208 NT Aboriginal children, aged about 8 years, living in remote and very remote communities. The explanatory variable was audiometrically determined hearing level as recorded in the Remote Hearing Assessment dataset. The outcome variable consisted of scale scores in the five domains of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Year 3. Other linked datasets used in the study included school attendance records, perinatal records and community level information on relative remoteness, socioeconomic disadvantage and housing crowdedness. Fixed effects linear regression models were used for statistical analyses. Results Compared with children with normal hearing and after controlling for a range of covariates, children with mild hearing impairment (HI) scored lower in Writing and Spelling by 15.0 points (95% CI: − 22.4 to − 7.6, p < 0.0005) and 5.0 points (95% CI: − 9.6 to − 0.3, p = 0.037), equivalent to 7.3 and 2.1% of the mean score, respectively. Children with moderate or worse HI scored lower in Writing and Numeracy by 13.4 points (95% CI, − 24.8 to − 1.9, p = 0.022) and 15.2 points (95% CI, − 27.6 to − 2.7, p = 0.017), both equivalent to 6.3% of the mean score the respective domain. Other factors associated with poorer NAPLAN results included being male, lower Year 2 school attendance, low birthweight, average household size> 5 persons, living in a very remote community and speaking English as a second language. Conclusions OM-related HI was independently associated with poorer early year academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote NT communities. Interventions to improve academic outcomes for Aboriginal children must incorporate actions to address the negative impact associated with HI through early detection, effective treatment and ongoing support for affected children.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-020-09620-6Otitis mediaConductive hearing lossAcademic achievementData linkageAboriginal childrenNAPLAN
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Jiunn-Yih Su
Steven Guthridge
Vincent Yaofeng He
Damien Howard
Amanda Jane Leach
spellingShingle Jiunn-Yih Su
Steven Guthridge
Vincent Yaofeng He
Damien Howard
Amanda Jane Leach
The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study
BMC Public Health
Otitis media
Conductive hearing loss
Academic achievement
Data linkage
Aboriginal children
NAPLAN
author_facet Jiunn-Yih Su
Steven Guthridge
Vincent Yaofeng He
Damien Howard
Amanda Jane Leach
author_sort Jiunn-Yih Su
title The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study
title_short The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study
title_full The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study
title_fullStr The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study
title_full_unstemmed The impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote Australia: a data linkage study
title_sort impact of hearing impairment on early academic achievement in aboriginal children living in remote australia: a data linkage study
publisher BMC
series BMC Public Health
issn 1471-2458
publishDate 2020-10-01
description Abstract Background The prevalence of otitis media (OM) and related hearing loss has remained persistently high among some groups of Australian Aboriginal children who are also reported to have poor academic outcomes. The general literature remains inconclusive about the association between OM-related hearing loss and academic performance in primary school. This study aimed to investigate this association in Aboriginal children living in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia. Methods A retrospective, observational cohort study was conducted for 2208 NT Aboriginal children, aged about 8 years, living in remote and very remote communities. The explanatory variable was audiometrically determined hearing level as recorded in the Remote Hearing Assessment dataset. The outcome variable consisted of scale scores in the five domains of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Year 3. Other linked datasets used in the study included school attendance records, perinatal records and community level information on relative remoteness, socioeconomic disadvantage and housing crowdedness. Fixed effects linear regression models were used for statistical analyses. Results Compared with children with normal hearing and after controlling for a range of covariates, children with mild hearing impairment (HI) scored lower in Writing and Spelling by 15.0 points (95% CI: − 22.4 to − 7.6, p < 0.0005) and 5.0 points (95% CI: − 9.6 to − 0.3, p = 0.037), equivalent to 7.3 and 2.1% of the mean score, respectively. Children with moderate or worse HI scored lower in Writing and Numeracy by 13.4 points (95% CI, − 24.8 to − 1.9, p = 0.022) and 15.2 points (95% CI, − 27.6 to − 2.7, p = 0.017), both equivalent to 6.3% of the mean score the respective domain. Other factors associated with poorer NAPLAN results included being male, lower Year 2 school attendance, low birthweight, average household size> 5 persons, living in a very remote community and speaking English as a second language. Conclusions OM-related HI was independently associated with poorer early year academic achievement in Aboriginal children living in remote NT communities. Interventions to improve academic outcomes for Aboriginal children must incorporate actions to address the negative impact associated with HI through early detection, effective treatment and ongoing support for affected children.
topic Otitis media
Conductive hearing loss
Academic achievement
Data linkage
Aboriginal children
NAPLAN
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-020-09620-6
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