Auditory diagnosis in primary care: a systematic review

Abstract

Introduction. Hearing loss has a high prevalence worldwide. Hearing tests are effective in identifying hearing impairment in primary health care. In terms of the Brazilian scenario, public policy initiatives aimed at the hearing health area were implemented in 2000, developing great advances and joint formation of a multidisciplinary team in service. Objective. To verify how the auditory diagnosis is established in primary health care. Method. The search for scientific articles was conducted by two independent researchers in the Medline (Pubmed), LILACS, SciELO, Web of Science and Scopus databases, without restriction of language, period, and location. To complement and avoid risk bias, a search for gray literature was performed on Google Scholar. Studies that scored ≥6 points according to the protocol for qualitative scoring. The systematic review was conducted in accordance with the recommendations of the PRISMA. Results. Initially, 2062 initial studies and two screened studies admitted to the research were selected. Patients with Hearing Handicap Inventory - HHI scores ≥0 had a higher referral rate than those scoring <10 points. In the first study, a result of 12.5% ​​of results was obtained and in the second, a result of an increase of 14%. Conclusion. The studies demonstrate effectiveness in the use of the HHI aiming at the auditory diagnosis when carrying out preliminary hearing tests, with a significant increase in the number of patients at risk of hearing loss referred for evaluation.