Maternal and other independent factors affecting the outcome of newborn hearing screening: a single center 6-year epidemiological study

Introduction:

Outcome of newborn hearing screening may be affected by maternal or pregnancy-related characteristics, although little is known about them. The objective of this paper was to do exploratory analyses of maternal factors and other independent factors and their association with the outcome of newborn hearing screening from a single center.

Methods:

Retrospective cohort study including neonates screened under the universal hearing screening program in the region of North-Rhine over a period of 6 years (2009 – 2014), hospitalized in a tertiary children's hospital. We identified newborns who failed hearing screening and assessed them for 15 possible maternal and other independent factors.

Results:

Over the 6-year period, 4,512 newborns were screened. At the end of the screening process, 322 (7%) newborns failed the hearing screening tests. Extremely preterm and extremely low birth weight newborns showed statistically significant association with failing hearing loss. Mean hospital stay of newborns that failed the hearing screening was 34 days, while newborns who passed the screening had a mean stay of 17 (t-test, p value < 0.05). Increased CRP values in mothers (> 12 mg/dl) was borderline statistically significantly associated with newborns failing hearing screening (p value = 0.06). Maternal diabetes, hypertension, smoking, drug abuse, mode of delivery, previous abortions, parental consanguinity and gender were not associated with failing hearing screening.

Conclusion:

Extreme prematurity, low birth weight, hospital stay duration and maternal CRP could be independent risk factors for failing hearing screening. Evaluating these factors may help treating physicians in follow-up of these newborns and improve coverage rates of targeted screening, and inform policy.

Publication History

Publication Date:
23 April 2019 (online)