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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Researchers report about one-fifth of children with hearing loss also suffer from eye disorders.
Study authors say identification of these conditions early in life is crucial to the cognitive, social and language development of these children, as well as identification of the cause of the sensory loss either environmental or genetic.
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"Given the effects of hearing impairment, children with sensorineural hearing loss are particularly dependent on other means of information acquisition," study authors write. "If these children were to have unrecognized ophthalmologic abnormalities that limited visual acuity, there could be further detrimental effects on development."
Study authors recommend a multidisciplinary approach when evaluating children diagnosed with either hearing or visual conditions due to the often-associated root causes of vision and hearing loss.
"Ophthalmologic evaluation can be beneficial for patients by allowing ophthalmologists to diagnose (and possibly treat) co-existing disorders that affect vision and by helping otolaryngologists to determine the cause of sensorineural hearing loss."
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2009;135:119-123
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