Preliminary Analysis on Epidemiology of Deafness in Xinjiang
WANG Le
ALIMU Aili
YAO Hua
Abstract：Objective To further understand of the living conditions of deaf people in Xinjiang and provide a refer-ence for development of policies for the disabled. Methods Subjects were randomly sampled rom Kashi, Atushi, Moyu County, Kuqa County, Hoboksar Mongol Autonomous County, Urumqi, Changji and Yining County. Individuals with hearing disability certificates were selected for epidemiological survey. Results A total of 5235 deaf people were screened, including 56.77%males and 43.23%females. Of the subjects, 27.34%were 45-60 years old, 25.81%were 30-45 years old, and 26.09% were over 60 years old. Deaf people of Uyghur ethnicity showed a tendency of being younger in the 30-45 years age group, whereas most patients in the 45-60 years age group were Han Chinese. About 3/4 (75.84%) of the individuals were unmarried. The education level was generally not high, with 31.92%having received only primary education (P<0.05). In terms of economic situation, only 41.68%were self-reliant, and 33.62%were sup-ported by family members (P<0.05). Class 2 hearing disability is the largest group (31.16%) in this hearing disabled population. Conclusions There are more hearing disabled males than females in Xinjiang, possibly due to their working environment, nature of work, life stress and poor lifestyle (such as smoking and drinking), but the specific mechanisms need further studies. The living status of deaf people is concerning. This special group of the population experience dai-ly difficulties that require extra care and attention. Prevention of deafness may be of great important, such as strengthen-ing health education and public education for the family and society to reduce the burden.
Keywords：DeafnessEpidemiologyLiving status
Publication Date：2017-01-01
Pages：6( 475-480 )