Ahmed Shakeel, Sheraz Shahida, Malik Sohail Ahmad, Ahmed Nasir Rafiq, Malik Shahid Ahmad, Farooq Shahid, Raheem Abdul, Basheer Faisal, Nayyar Zameer Ahmad
ENT Department, Heartland Hospital, Birmingham, UK.
Department of Gynae & OBS, CMH Abbottabad, Pakistan.
J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. 2018 Apr-Jun;30(2):234-236.
Congenital deafness is commonest birth defect and it affects 2-4 neonates among 1000 live births. Detection and intervention especially before 6 months of age prevents severe linguistic, educational and psychosocial repercussions and helps the deaf child in the development of normal speech and language. Children who are identified after 6 months of age experience great difficulties in attaining speech and language..
To find out the frequency of hearing loss in neonates, a hospital based observational study was conducted in Combined Military Hospital Abbottabad from June-to December 2014. One thousand new-borns selected by consecutive sampling within a specified period of time were subjected to Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) testing. Brain Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA) evaluation was performed in all those who failed OAE testing to confirm the hearing loss. Children born with microtia, meatal stenosis, cleft palate, craniofacial abnormalities and syndromic illnesses were excluded from the study.
Of 1000 new-borns screened, 465 were males and 535 were females whereas 632 (63.2%) were delivered through C-section and 368 (36.8%) were born via SVD. Four hundred and ninety-one (49%) babies had a positive history of consanguinity among the parents. Out of 1000 infants 13 were having hearing loss which was later on confirmed on BERA evaluation. Among them 7 were males and 6 females, 9 (69%) were born through SVD and 4 (31%) through C-section and 8 (61.5%) new-borns had a positive history of consanguinity among their parents. In all these 13 patients only 2 (15%) patients had profound while the remaining 11 (85%) had moderate to severe hearing loss.
Frequency of hearing loss in neonates is much higher in our study (13 per 1000) as compared to other parts of the world and demands that more studies should be undertaken on this subject to confirm this.
先天性耳聋是最常见的出生缺陷，在每1000例活产新生儿中，有2至4例受其影响。在6个月龄之前进行检测和干预可预防严重的语言、教育和心理社会影响，并有助于失聪儿童正常言语和语言的发展。6个月龄之后才被确诊的儿童在获得言语和语言能力方面会遇到很大困难。
为了查明新生儿听力损失的发生率，于2014年6月至12月在阿伯塔巴德联合军事医院开展了一项基于医院的观察性研究。在特定时间段内通过连续抽样选取1000名新生儿进行耳声发射（OAE）测试。所有OAE测试未通过的新生儿均接受脑干听觉诱发电位（BERA）评估以确诊听力损失。患有小耳症、耳道狭窄、腭裂、颅面畸形和综合征性疾病的新生儿被排除在研究之外。
在筛查的1000名新生儿中，465名是男性，535名是女性，其中632名（63.2%）通过剖宫产分娩，368名（36.8%）经阴道分娩。491名（49%）婴儿的父母有近亲结婚史。在1000名婴儿中，有13名存在听力损失，随后经BERA评估得以确诊。其中7名是男性，6名是女性，9名（69%）经阴道分娩，4名（31%）通过剖宫产分娩，8名（61.5%）新生儿的父母有近亲结婚史。在这13名患者中，只有2名（15%）为重度听力损失，其余11名（85%）为中度至重度听力损失。
与世界其他地区相比，我们的研究中新生儿听力损失发生率要高得多（每1000例中有13例），因此需要对此主题开展更多研究以证实这一点。
