The risk factor profile of children covered by the Polish universal neonatal hearing screening program and its impact on hearing loss incidence

Objective

The high frequency of risk factors detected within the newborn population increases the total number of children that should receive regular follow-ups. However, in some circumstances, this could be beyond the capacity of the health system. Therefore, careful interpretation and selection of risk factors, and in particular of those factors not strictly defined, should be carried out during screening. The aim of the study was to analyse the risk factor profile of children covered by the national universal neonatal hearing screening program and to correlate it with hearing loss incidence.

Patients and methods

The analysis of records in the program database collected from 472 neonatal and well-baby units over a period of 10 years (2002–2012), focused on children with at least one risk factor. The analysis was subdivided into distribution of risk factors as well as to risk factors and hearing loss correlation.

Results

In the studied cohort of n = 137,432 children (4% of the total number of screened children) single risk factors were most frequently detected, accounting for 71% of records. The association of two or more risk factors appeared in 659 configurations (29%), with a mean of 3.1 coexisting risk factors and a maximum of 9. Hearing loss was dependent on the number of risk factors in a child, but reached its maximum with the association of 6 factors.

Conclusions

The detection of postnatal hearing loss should be continued in order to increase our understanding of hearing incidence and the role of environmental factors. To optimize screening, discussions between specialists (mostly related to the issue of risk factors detected and registered in the earliest stage of screening programs) would be beneficial.