Risk Factors Associated with Delays in Hearing Loss Identification in Pediatric Patients

Objective To identify sociodemographic factors associated with pediatric late‐identified hearing loss (LIHL) and classify novel subgroups within the LIHL population. Study Design Retrospective cohort. Setting Tertiary children's hospital. Methods Our cohort included children with permanent hearing loss (HL) between 2012 and 2020 (n = 1087). Patients with early‐identified HL were compared to patients with LIHL (>6 months of age at diagnosis), and 3 subgroups: (1) late‐identified congenital HL: failed NHS but had a diagnostic audiogram >6 months old; (2) late‐onset HL: passed NHS and identified with HL after 6 months old; (3) late‐identified, unknown‐onset: unknown NHS results, identified after 6 months old. Geospatial analysis was performed using ArcGIS Pro. Results Compared with early‐identified children, children with LIHL were more likely to have more comorbidities (odds ratio [OR] = 1.12, [1.01, 1.23]), be an under‐represented minority (URM) (OR = 1.92, [1.27, 2.93]) and have a higher social vulnerability index (SVI) (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.1, [1.14, 3.87]). However, subgroups in the LIHL cohort had variable associations. Children with late‐identified unknown onset hearing loss were uniquely associated with a primarily non‐English speaking household (AOR = 1.84, [1.04, 3.25]), whereas children with late‐onset hearing loss were less likely to have public insurance (AOR = 0.47, [0.27, 0.81]. There were no significant associations for children with late‐identified congenital hearing loss. Neighborhood disadvantage, as measured by SVI, had an increased association with late‐identified unknown onset HL (AOR = 4.08, [2.01, 8.28]) and a decreased association with late‐onset HL (AOR = 0.40, [0.22, 0.72]). Conclusion Sociodemographic factors serve as proxies for health care access, and these factors vary across LIHL pathways. Understanding the risk factors associated with each LIHL subgroup may help address disparities in pediatric HL identification.