RESUMO
Introduction: In Latin America (LA) there are around 16 million deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. In Chile, the incidence of a congenital condition causing hearing loss is around 2.8 per 1000 newborns. Although Chile is classified as a high-income country in LA, the territory might share similar challenges for DHH children. Limited material-human resources, living environment deprivation, large distances to audiological services could shape common challenges in this region. Considering DHH children intervention, Cochlear Implant (CI) use can help spoken language development, but this achievement might depend on various factors. Late diagnosis and amplification, challenging social determinants of health and lack of family engagement are examples of factors probably affecting the expected outcomes. These factors could be affecting the outcomes expected in DHH children in Chile. Aims: to characterise DHH children implanted in Chile's public health system considering factors and outcomes expected with the CI. This is the first study of this kind in Chile. Methods: Considering an observational study, 107 DHH Children with CI (1 to 15 years of age), who received a CI from 2017 to 2019 in the public health system were characterised using two sources of information: Information from the clinical record of each user, and an online survey for parents-caregivers in the platform OPINION. The characterisation considered 8 groups of factors and 5 different outcomes.The study is part of a PhD research and is supported by a small grant from a national public tender. Approval from two different Ethics Committees was obtained: in Chile (167-2020) and in the UK (LCD-2020-13).Results: Sociodemographic, audiological, CI use, education and parental engagement information were characterised as factors. Findings reveal families were from low and middle-income groups but with high level of education considering the LA context. More than 80% of participants were continuously attending to rehabilitation sessions. The living environment deprivation was a particular factor from Chile and LA context. Results of high use of the CI and high parental engagement were reported. Considering outcomes, these included three speech perception assessments, language used by the child, social inclusion, and satisfaction with the device. More than 50% of participants presented low abilities in speech perception, but also disparities among their outcome results.Conclusion: Characterisation is a useful instrument for evaluating factors and outcomes in Chilean DHH children with CI. Particularities from LA could be important to consider during the early treatment process with CI. Preliminary results from outcomes gave us the opportunity to have evidence about the real progression of DHH children in Chile and LA context, where the social determinant of health could be impacting the progression with the device. Further inferential and longitudinal analysis in specific groups of DHH Children with CI needs to be done for enhancing the results of this wide characterisation.