title: Sensorineural hearing loss and language development following neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of hearing loss in school-age children who have undergone neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment and to identify any effects of hearing loss on speech- and language development [corrected] .
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective longitudinal follow-up study within the framework of a structured post-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation follow-up program.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatient clinic of a level III university hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tone audiometry was performed by standardized protocol in 136 children aged 5-12 yrs. Hearing loss was considered clinically significant when >20 dB. Hearing was normal in 75.7% of children. Five children (3.7%) had bilateral sensorineural or combined hearing loss; three of them received special audiological care (2.2% of total sample). Of the 24 children with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 19 (79.2%) had normal hearing and only two (8.3%) had mild sensorineural hearing loss, unilateral in one of them. Follow-up at 24 months of age had shown normal verbal and nonverbal developmental scores. Language development and intelligence median (range) scores at 5 yrs of age were also normal: receptive language development 104 (55-133), syntactical development 104 (68-132), and lexical development 101 (50-141) for 89 children; intelligence quotient 104 (68-132) for 106 children. Scores did not differ among those with normal hearing, mild hearing loss, and moderate-to-severe hearing loss (p = 0.800, p = 0.639, p = 0.876, and p = 0.886, for the respective developmental tests).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found normal language development and intelligence in a cohort of neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation survivors. The prevalence of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss was in accordance with that of a larger series in the United States-which exceeds the prevalence in the normal population.
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care and Department of Pediatric Surgery, Erasmus MC - Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Desiree
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van den Hondel
authors.forename: Marlous J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Madderom
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goedegebure
authors.forename: Saskia J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Gischler
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mazer
authors.forename: Dick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tibboel
authors.forename: Hanneke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ijsselstijn
mesh_terms: D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015199:Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D006548:Hernia, Diaphragmatic / Q000150:complications; D065630:Hernias, Diaphragmatic, Congenital; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric