English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Among all the disabilities, hearing loss is the most prevalent all over the world. It does not cause mortality but results in huge loss in one’s social, educational and economic well-being. The prevalence rate of hearing loss in India is 5 - 6 newborn infants per 1000 births. The disabled infants are identified on an average at the end of second year; by then irreversible damage would have occurred with failure to develop speech. Global screening to detect infants with hearing loss would only decrease the burden of deafness in our society. The purpose of the study is to find out the profile of the High Risk Babies with hearing loss in Malabar region in Kerala, India and determine the common high risk factors for hearing loss among the new-born infants. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted between 1 st January 2015 and 31st December 2017, wherein the new-borns of Malabar region, Kerala were screened for their hearing disorders. 45,867 new-born infants were screened by adopting High Risk Register (HRR) - A New-born screening for communication disorders developed at All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, [AIISH] Mysore which was used between 0 to 28 days. Trained medical staff collected the data as per the High Risk Register (HRR). RESULTS Among the 5728 infants with positive high risk factors 3547 (61.92 %) were male infants and the remaining 2181 (38.07 %) were female infants. Among the risk factors enlisted in the High Risk Register (HRR), premature births, low birth weight, delayed birth cry, low APGAR score and consanguinity were most common among the new-born with hearing loss in Malabar region of Kerala. The incidences of risk factors based on HRR for the three-year period showed premature births in 24.71 % of the infants, delayed birth cry in 11.22 %, low APGAR score in 06.71 %, low birth weight in 04.46 % and history of consanguinity in 03.06 %. CONCLUSIONS The overall prevalence of high risk factors among the new-born infants screened was 12.48 % which was higher than the national prevalence. The study has a bearing and relevance to new-born hearing screening in Kerala state, where this type of screening was not performed routinely in all hospitals. KEYWORDS New-born Infants, Hearing Loss, High Risk Registry, New-born Screening and Speech