Association between social determinants of health and hearing loss in South African children

A secondary data analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID19592821
AuthorsMukovhe Phanguphangu (0000-0003-2535-9856, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, corresponding author), Andrew John Ross (0000-0002-8921-8318, University of KwaZulu-Natal, corresponding author), Tiffany Smythe (0000-0003-3408-7362, Stellenbosch University, corresponding author)
EditorsJulia Robinson (0000-0003-0719-3995)
Year2025
Volume5
Issue6
Pagese0004790
Publication date2025-06-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePLOS Global Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2767-3375 • E-ISSN: 2767-3375
PublisherPublic Library of Science (PLoS) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1371/journal.pgph.0004790
PMID40554589
OpenAlexW4411599157
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited35

Globally, 34 million children below 15 years have hearing loss (HL) and while research shows associations between social determinants of health and disability in general, research on the associations between these determinants and HL in children is limited. Therefore, this study sought to examine the association between social determinants of health and HL in children using the parental socioeconomic status, such as educational attainment level, employment status and income level, non-medical determinants of health (rurality, housing, type of toilet, availability of piped drinking water, and exposure to cigarette smoke) as proxy factors for social determinants of health in children. This was a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional survey conducted with 517 children in South Africa. We conducted multivariable logistic regression to test for the association between HL and exposure variables such as non-medical determinants of health and parental socioeconomic status using Stata v18 for Macintosh. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to ascertain the odds of HL with exposure variables. One hundred and two participants (n = 102, 19.7%) had HL, including 57 (55.9%) females. Crude analysis showed increased odds of HL in females (OR:1.6; 95%CI: 1.0 – 2.5, P = 0.03 ) and children younger than9 years (OR: 2.0; 95%CI: 1.3 – 3.1, P = 0.003 ). After adjusting for age and sex, exposure to cigarette smoke (aOR: 4.0; 95%CI:2.4 – 6.4, P ), living in a mud house (aOR: 1.6; 95%CI:1.2 – 2.7, P = 0.04 ), lack of piped drinking water (aOR: 1.9; 95%CI:1.1 – 3.1, P ), using pit latrines (aOR: 4.1; 95%CI:1.3 – 13.0, P = 0.01 ), having parents who (i) did not complete high school (aOR: 2.8; 95%CI:1.4 – 2.4, P = 0.01 ), or those earning a combined annual household income (iii) less than $2,882 (aOR: 6.2; 95%CI:2.1 – 51.1, P = 0.03 ) or (iv) between $2,883 and $8,006 (aOR:5.0; 95%CI:2.5 – 43.5, P = 0.05 ) increased the odds of HL. Based on these findings, we recommend public health interventions targeting these social determinants to reduce the global burden of HL, and further research to understand the pathophysiology of HL in those exposed to smoking or using pit latrines

Confidence interval · Cross-sectional study · Educational attainment · Environmental health · Logistic regression · Odds · Odds ratio · Population · Public health · Social determinants of health · Socioeconomic status · Demography · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation · Medicine · Noise Effects and Management

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