Prevalence of cochlear implants in Europe: trend between 2010 and 2016.

Objective

To collect figures on the numbers of children and adults receiving cochlear implants across Europe, compare the figures for 2016 with those for 2010, and identify any trends. Materials and methods: In 2018 EURO-CIU invited their 23 member countries to conduct a survey collecting data on the number of CI recipients in 2016 and 2017. Data were received from 15 countries, representing more than 100 000 CI recipients in Europe.

Results

For paediatric CI, there was an increase in nearly all European countries (except Denmark, the UK and Luxembourg) between 2010 and 2016. We found an annual figure of one CI per 1000 newborns common in most countries where reimbursement of paediatric CI's is available. Conversely the adult data reveals no increase between 2010 and 2016 and the data is less homogeneous than the paediatric data with huge differences across countries.

Conclusion

There is little agreement on data on numbers of CI across Europe, which makes it difficult to plan public health policy, funding or services. In all European countries included in this study (except Germany) there needs to be work on raising more awareness of adult hearing loss and adult cochlear implantation to improve access.