title: The results of newborn hearing screening by means of transient otoacoustic emissions - has anything changed over 10 years?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) has become the standard of care in many countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of UNHS after ten years of the program in Poland and to compare them with the results of 2003.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the study, we analyze the results of UNHS in the University Hospital in Poznan, Poland. Between 01.01.2013 and 31.12.2013, 6827 children were examined by means of otoacoustic emissions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Risk factors (RF) were identified in 772 (11.3%) newborns, which is significantly less than 10 years ago (p < 0.05). The most frequent RF were: ototoxic medications, treatment in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and prematurity < 33 weeks of gestation. In 2003, the most frequent were ototoxic medications and prematurity, less frequent was treatment in NICU and more common was low Apgar score. In 51 (6.6%) newborns with RF, the result of OAE was positive either unilaterally or bilaterally. In infants without RF the result was positive unilaterally in 22 (0.4%) and bilaterally in 14 (0.2%) patients. These results are significantly lower than in our former study. The relative risk of positive result was the highest in infants with complex congenital anomalies (RR = 44.99), craniofacial anomalies (RR = 17.46) and mechanical ventilation for > 5 days (RR = 10.69). In our previous study, the highest RR of positive test results was in infants with family history, congenital malformations and low Apgar score. We found that most predictive as to the final diagnosis was bilaterally positive OAE test. In most patients, the second check confirmed the diagnosis, independently of RF. The number of false positive tests at the 1st level of screening is significantly lower now than 10 years ago, probably due to better staff training.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Long term monitoring and the appropriate management of hearing deficit in children is essential. UNHS seems to be the most efficient way of finding children who require treatment of hearing impairment. The prevalence of most risk factors of hearing deficit has significantly changed over the years. The number of false positive results has significantly decreased over the years thanks to better staff training.
authors.affiliation: Department of Newborns' Infectious Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, ul. Polna 33, 60-535 Poznań, Poland. Electronic address: kwroblewska@post.pl.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wroblewska-Seniuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Oncological Laryngology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, ul. Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Greczka
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Oncological Laryngology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, ul. Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dabrowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Oncological Laryngology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, ul. Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Witold
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Szyfter
authors.affiliation: Department of Newborns' Infectious Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, ul. Polna 33, 60-535 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mazela
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods*; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000502:physiology*; D011044:Poland; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Congenital hearing deficit; Hearing loss; Hearing screening; Newborn