Tympanometric findings in children with cerebral palsy in a tertiary health centre in Nigeria

Context: Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the commonly occurring physical disabilities, beginning in early childhood and persisting through the lifespan. Hearing impairment is a common problem in children with CP. The type of the hearing loss is mostly sensorineural, but conductive hearing loss from middle ear disease is a possibility. Aim: The aim was to assess the tympanometric findings in children with CP. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted amongst children with CP and matched (age and gender) controls in Kano, Nigeria. Ethical approval was obtained from the institution's Ethics Committee. Simple random sampling was used to enrol 330 participants. Consent was obtained and a structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the history, ear examination and tympanometric findings. The data collected were analysed using Statistical Product and Service Solutions version 21. Results: One hundred and sixty-five children with CP and the same number of matched controls participated in the study. The mean age of CP patients and controls was 4.49 ± 2.85 and 4.40 ± 2.92 years, respectively. Abnormal tympanograms were found in 51 (30.9%) of the children with CP as against 19 (11.5%) in the controls. Abnormal acoustic reflex was found in 28.5% of the cases compared to 12.1% in the control group. There was a statistically significant difference between the tympanometric findings of patients with CP and that of the controls (P = 0.0001). Conclusions: This study found a high prevalence of abnormal tympanograms in children with CP compared to controls.