Hearing Loss and Very Low Birthweight

Abstract

Background Regardless of gestational age, any newborn (NB) with a weight at birth of <1500 g is considered to be of very low birth weight (VLBW). The incidence of hearing loss in this population group is 5–6% but the frequency of moderate or severe hearing loss in children of VLBW is 2%. Material and Methods Retrospective study of 364 NBs with birth weight <1500 g. Two levels of TEOAE screening were conducted, followed by an ABR test if the initial testing was inconclusive. The SPSS statistical software package, version 20.0 for Windows, was used for statistical processing of data. Fisher’s Exact Test was used to study possible associations among categorical variables Results From 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2010, a total of 26,708 subjects were included in the hearing screening program. Out of these, 364 were NBs of VLBW. Out of 112 NBs with VLBW, 76 (67.8%) had an ABR test done. Of these, 22 showed signs of hearing loss. Eight of them (36.4%) were diagnosed with sensorioneural hearing loss (SNHL), and out of these, 2 infants had bilateral profound SNHL. The risk factor for hearing loss most frequently associated with VLBW was the use of ototoxic medications. Conclusions Hearing loss diagnosis among VLBW NBs is higher than the percentage in the general population. All subjects diagnosed with hearing loss were very premature infants and had one or two other auditory risk factors associated with their VLBW.