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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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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