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CC BY 4.0 · Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2025; 29(01): s00441792015
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1792015
Original Research

Epidemiological Characteristics and Maternal Risk Factors of Microtia and Aural Atresia in Kazakhstan

Assel Imangaliyeva 
1   Higher School of Public Health, Kazakhstan Medical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
,
Rimma Suatbayeva 
1   Higher School of Public Health, Kazakhstan Medical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
,
Tatyana Slazhneva 
2   Department of Non-Communicable Disease Prevention, National Centre for Public Health, Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana, Kazakhstan
,
Aigul Medeulova 
3   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Kazakh National Medical University named after S. D. Asfendiyarov, Almaty, Kazakhstan
,
Zhanetta Mukanova 
3   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Kazakh National Medical University named after S. D. Asfendiyarov, Almaty, Kazakhstan
,
Amangeldy Kulimbetov 
3   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Kazakh National Medical University named after S. D. Asfendiyarov, Almaty, Kazakhstan
,
Neilya Mileshina 
4   Department for Prevention and Correction of the Hearing Disorders, National Research Centre for Audiology and Hearing Rehabilitation, Moscow, Russia
,
Natalya Glushkova 
5   Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Medicine, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
,
Marina Izmailovich 
6   Department of Internal Diseases, Karaganda Medical University, Karaganda, Kazakhstan
,
Yuliya Semenova 
7   School of Medicine, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
› Author Affiliations Funding The authors declare that they did not receive financial support from agencies in the public, private or non-profit sectors to conduct the present study.
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Abstract

Introduction Microtia and aural atresia present congenital ear anomalies that affect external ear and are associated with conductive hearing loss. Both anomalies result from exposure to various prenatal risk factors, most common during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Objective This study was aimed at epidemiological analysis of microtia/atresia and associated risk factors in the Kazakhstani population.

Methods A retrospective study in two stages. First, a cross-sectional analysis of microtia/ atresia frequencies from 2015 to 2019 on the basis of official statistics obtained from the Republican Centre for E-Health. Then, a case-control study was carried out to elucidate maternal risk factors associated with occurrence of microtia/atresia. We recruited patients presented in Almaty, Kazakhstan, between September 2021 and February 2022.

Results There was a substantial regional variation in the rates of both aural atresia and microtia/anotia. Mothers of children with microtia disclosed toxoplasmosis, other agents (including HIV, syphilis, varicella), rubella, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex (TORCH) infections during pregnancy more often than those of healthy children (45.8 versus 7.3%; p < 0.001). Exposure to different chemicals during pregnancy was mentioned more frequently by mothers of children with microtia when compared with the healthy controls (18.1 versus 8.1%; p = 0.035). Self-reporting of alcohol consumption and intake of antibiotics was also significantly higher in mothers of children with microtia (31.9 and 36.1% respectively).

Conclusion Elucidation of microtia/atresia epidemiology is important due to their imposed social and economic burden, associated with treatment and rehabilitation costs.

Keywords

microtia - children - frequency - risk factors - meatal atresia

Contributors

All authors have contributed to manuscript writing and review and have approved the final version.




Publication History

Received: 10 August 2022

Accepted: 21 August 2024

Article published online:
27 January 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Bibliographical Record
Assel Imangaliyeva, Rimma Suatbayeva, Tatyana Slazhneva, Aigul Medeulova, Zhanetta Mukanova, Amangeldy Kulimbetov, Neilya Mileshina, Natalya Glushkova, Marina Izmailovich, Yuliya Semenova. Epidemiological Characteristics and Maternal Risk Factors of Microtia and Aural Atresia in Kazakhstan. Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2025; 29: s00441792015.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1792015
 

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