Title: Universal Screening in Newborn
Authors: Dr Sangita M. Kumbhojkar, Dr Hemant Patil
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i8.69
Abstract
Hearing impairment is a primary communication problem limiting an infant’s access to spoken language .The objective of the study was to study the incidence of hearing impairment in “NO Risk” and “At Risk” newborn using Transient evoked otoacoustic Emission (TEOAE) and to know the feasibility of using TEOAE as Universal screening procedure for detecting hearing impairment in newborns in developing countries
Methods: A prospective observational study conducted in R.C.S.M. Govt. Medical College & Chhatrapati Pramila Raje Hospital Kolhapur during the period of December 2014 to April 2016. All enrolled newborn are screened by TEOAE within first 3 days of life followed by screening at the age of 4 to 6 weeks. Babies of “At Risk” group & babies of “No risk” group who failed the first hearing test, confirmation of hearing impairment was done at 3 months of age by Auditory brain stem response (ABR)
Results: A total of 2638 neonates were screened of which 217 babies were from “At Risk” group & 2421 babies were from “No risk” group . 15 neonates from total 26 38 had hearing impairment confirmed by ABR.
The incidence of hearing impairment is 5.6/1000 screened with 95% confidence interval between 3.4 -9.4 . incidence of hearing impairment in the “No Risk” group was 2.89 with 95% confidence interval between 1.4 -6 where as incidence of 36.8 per 1000 with 95% confidence interval between 16.0 – 71.3 was seen in “at Risk:” group.
This study has shown that two stage TEOAE hearing screening can be successfully implemented as newborn screening method for early detection of impaired hearing on large scale. This study also brought out the fact that, though the incidence of hearing impaired in “ AT Risk” newborn is higher than “ No Risk” newborns, universal hearing screening is essential to detect hearing impairment in “No Risk” Population also. Two stage TEOAE proves to be feasible method for early detection of congenital hearing loss in India.
Key Words: TEOAE , Universal hearing screening , Auditory brain stem response (ABR).
