Quality of Life With Cochlear Implantation Using the CIQOL-35 at a Tertiary Urban Medical Center: Our Experience.

OBJECTIVE: Assessment of quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes after cochlear implantation (CI) using the Cochlear Implant Quality of Life-35 questionnaire (CIQOL-35).

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort.

SETTING: Single-institution tertiary care center.

PATIENTS: Patients 18 years and older who have undergone CI and CIQOL-35 survey.

INTERVENTIONS: Implementing CIQOL-35 from 2019 to 2022 to measure change in QOL after CI. Statistical analysis included nonparametric, univariate, and multivariate analyses. Significance was set at 0.05.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences in QOL among CI patients in each of the CIQOL-35 domains.

RESULTS: Ninety-three patients (40 female, 53 male) aged 20 to 93 years (median 70 years) turned in 164 QOL surveys (68 preactivation, 96 postactivation). Postactivation median QOL was 5 to 15 points higher across all domains (p < 0.001). QOL score distributions among unilateral CI only, bilateral CI, and unilateral CI with contralateral hearing aid users were not statistically different (p > 0.05). Multivariate analysis identified that male sex (β = -2.0; 95% confidence interval, -3.9 to -0.1) was a negative predictor for environment scores and not being married (β = 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 0.02 to 4.0) was a positive predictor for entertainment scores. Median follow-up time was 13 months post-CI (interquartile range [IQR], 7.1-21.5 months).

CONCLUSIONS: CI patients experienced improved QOL postactivation among all QOL domains, whereas specific CI use pattern in regard to unilateral, bilateral, or bimodal did not affect QOL. Multivariate analysis identified marital status and sex as possible QOL predictors.