Am J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg | Volume 4, Issue 6 | Research Article | Open Access
Konstantina Chrysouli*, Astraka Veronika, Elina Hatzaki, Evmorfia Koulo, Angelos Saratsiotis, Xara Kakosimou, George Kokolakis, Anastasia Gounari and Petros Vrettakos
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Penteli Children Hospital, Greece
*Correspondance to: Konstantina Chrysouli
Fulltext PDFBackground: The incidence of sensorineural hearing loss is between 1 and 3 per 1000 in healthy neonates and 2 to 4 per 100 in high-risk infants.
Methods: In this study, we assessed the incidence of hearing impairment in normal term (≥ 37 wga) infants (control group), in children with suspicion and/or risk factors of hearing loss, included premature infants (<37 Weeks Gestational Age (WGA) and/or low birth weight <2.5 Kg), in children diagnosed with a specific syndrome and in children with speech disorder, candidate for speech therapy. All premature infants (<37 Weeks Gestational Age (WGA) and/or low birth weight (<2.5 Kg) were treated as infants with risk factors due to their prematurity.
Results: 63% of all tested children were normal term (≥ 37 WGA), 21% were preterm, 4% had at least one other risk factor for hearing loss except prematurity (Ototoxic medications, prolonged respirator care in intensive care unit, high serum bilirubin concentration, family history of hearing loss, craniofacial anomalies, congenital infections), 2% were diagnosed with a specific syndrome and 10% were candidate for speech therapy.
The final diagnosis of hearing impairment was given predominantly in extremely preterm infants born <28 weeks of gestation -19% and in extremely low birth weight preterm infants (<1 Kg) -18%.
Hearing deficit was diagnosed in 9% of children with other risk factors for hearing loss, except prematurity.
Hearing impairment was diagnosed in 2% of syndromic children.
On the contrary, only <1% among children candidate for speech therapy had hearing loss. It is noteworthy that almost 75% of the children who were candidates for speech therapy were children who belonged to the autism spectrum.
Conclusion: Hearing impairment is a severe consequence of prematurity. Its prevalence is inversely related to the maturity of the baby. Premature infants have many concomitant other risk factors for hearing loss, which influence the occurrence and the intensity of the hearing deficit.
Hearing loss; Prematurity; Risk factors; Otoacoustic emissions; Auditory brainstem response
Chrysouli K, Veronika A, Hatzaki E, Koulo E, Saratsiotis A, Kakosimou X, et al. Risk Factors and Incidence of Hearing Impairment among Children in the Audiology Department of a Children Hospital. Am J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2021; 4(6): 1144..