Association between hearing impairment, school performance and cognitive function in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease.

Objective: To investigate the association among hearing impairment, school performance, and cognitive function in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease.

Methods: Thirty-one participants with sickle cell disease (SCD) and 31 healthy participants in the control-comparison group (CG), both aged 8-17 years underwent auditory system evaluation (pure tone audiometry and acoustic reflex), were screened for the risks of (central) auditory processing disorder and dysfunction of cognitive function using the Scale of Auditory Behaviors (SAB) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), respectively, and were interviewed to obtain clinical data and data on school performance.

Results: In the SCD group, eight (25.