Demographic and Clinical Profile of Cochlear Implant Patients in Morocco
摘要
The aim of this study was to describe the demographic and clinical profile of 1046 cochlear implant patients and to evaluate the outcomes of surgery using the Auditory Performance for Cochlear Implantation Evaluation (APCEI) scale in 207 pediatric patients. This was a descriptive and retrospective study in which patients with sensorineural hearing loss implanted between 2008 and 2024 were included from the ENT Department and the Mohamed VI Hearing Center of the Cheikh Khalifa International University Hospital, as well as the Mohamed VI International University Hospital. Patient records were reviewed to collect data on demographics, medical history, surgical details, and postoperative outcomes and pediatric patients were assessed using the APCEI scale. Our study included 74 adults with a median age of 30.5 years and 962 children with a median age of 3.8 years. There was a high geographical concentration of patients from large cities, and the number of patients operated reached its maximum (11%) in 2017–2018. The majority of patients (81.84%) had prelingual deafness, and plenty of them (95.89%) were implanted on the right side. A proportion of our patients (40.82%) had a history of consanguinity, and 9.75% had comorbidities. The complication rate was approximately 6.88%. Concerning the APCEI profile, we noted that longer duration of cochlear implant use was correlated with improved speech scores, children implanted early had better results, and that the number of speech therapy sessions per week did not influence the overall APCEI scoring (p > 0.05). Early cochlear implantation and functional results support help to improve the APCEI results in children with profound prelingual deafness.