Conductive hearing loss in children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia: a longitudinal follow-up study in children aged between 6 and 24 months.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the occurrence of isolated and recurrent episodes of conductive hearing loss (CHL) during the first two years of life in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with and without bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). STUDY DESIGN, SUBJECTS AND OUTCOME MEASURES: In a longitudinal clinical study, 187 children were evaluated at 6, 9, 12, 15 18 and 24 months of age by visual reinforcement audiometry, tympanometry and auditory brain response system.


RESULTS
Of the children with BPD, 54.5% presented with episodes of CHL, as opposed to 34.7% of the children without BPD. This difference was found to be statistically significant. The recurrent or persistent episodes were more frequent among children with BPD (25.7%) than among those without BPD (8.3%). The independent variables that contributed to this finding were small for gestational age and a 5 min Apgar score.


CONCLUSIONS
Recurrent CHL episodes are more frequent among VLBW infants with BPD than among VLBW infants without BPD.
Zanchetta
Sthella
S
Department of Ophthalmology, Otorhinolaryngology, and Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto-University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. zanchetta@fmrp.usp.br
Resende
Luiz Antônio de L
LA
Bentlin
Maria R
MR
Rugulo
Lígia M
LM
Trindade
Cleide E P
CE
D001997:Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia / Q000150:complications*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence