A Ten-Year Review of Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response Testing at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center: Patient Demographics and Outcomes

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to present the clinical and demographic profile of subjects who have undergone Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center over a 10-year period.
 Methods:
 Design: Retrospective chart review
 Setting: Tertiary children’s hospital
 Population: All patients referred for ABR testing from January 1996 to December 2005.
 Results: A total of 2783 cases were included in the study with 1.63:1 male-to-female ratio. Almost 50% belonged to the 2-to 5-year old age group. There were 111 different indications for referral, with speech and language disorders ranking first at 38%. Patients with Congenital Rubella had the highest incidence of pathologic ABR results with 90.62%. There was no significant difference in the degree of hearing loss between the pre-school (2-5 years old) and school age (>5 to 10 years old) group. Our patients who presented with speech delay had a much older average age of hearing loss detection by ABR compared to foreign studies.
 Conclusion: Speech and developmental delays were the leading causes for ABR referral across age groups with most belonging to the 2-to-5-year old age group. There was no statistically significant difference in the degree of hearing loss between the preschool and school-age groups with speech delay. ABR in hearing screening of neonates and children constitutes only a small fraction of the total indications for ABR Testing at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center. Detection of hearing loss at an earlier age may reveal the true burden of illness and facilitate earlier intervention. Universal hearing screening should be performed for all newborns and not just for high risk infants. 
 Keywords: Hearing loss, Speech delay, Auditory Brainstem Response, ABR