TOBB Economy and Technology University Hospital, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara, Turkey.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara City Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey.
Ear Hear. 2022 Jan/Feb;43(1):41-44. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000001167.
Viral infections are known to be a risk factor for neonatal hearing loss. COVID-19 infection has been reported to affect hearing test results in one small sample sized study. We aimed to investigate the incidence the risk of neonatal hearing loss in infants of mothers who had COVID-19 infection during pregnancy, regarding their trimesters, by evaluating the neonatal hearing screening results.
In this retrospective case-control study, neonatal hearing test results of 458 women with a history of COVID-19 infection in pregnancy were compared with 339 women who gave birth before the pandemic. Data of pregnant women who attended the COVID-19 outpatient clinic of the emergency service of a tertiary pandemic hospital and who had confirmed infection with a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test were determined from the hospital's records and their neonatal hearing screening results were analyzed from the national database. Neonates born before <34 weeks, and with reported risk factors in the database such as congenital anomaly or known TORCH infection during pregnancy were excluded. The screening tests, Automated Auditory Brainstem Response or Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emission (TEOAE), were used for screening, and patients who failed the first screening were reevaluated at least 2 weeks apart with a second screening.
The incidence of failed second screening was 1.3% in the COVID-19 group and 2.9% in controls, and no significant difference was observed between the two groups according to the final screening results on the second test. Among the 458 mothers, 8 were infected in first trimester, 126 in second trimester, 127 in third trimester but did not deliver within 15 days after infection and 197 were positive at birth. Six neonates in the infected group failed the second screening (3 [2.4%] in the second trimester, 1 [0.8%] third trimester, and 2 [1.0%] positive at birth).
COVID-19 infection during pregnancy was not found to be a risk factor for hearing loss, according to the newborn hearing screening results.
病毒感染已知是新生儿听力损失的一个风险因素。一项小规模研究报告称,新冠病毒感染会影响听力测试结果。我们旨在通过评估新生儿听力筛查结果,调查孕妇在妊娠期感染新冠病毒的婴儿发生新生儿听力损失的风险及其在妊娠各期的发病率。
在这项回顾性病例对照研究中,我们将 458 名有妊娠新冠病毒感染史的女性的新生儿听力测试结果与 339 名大流行前分娩的女性进行了比较。从医院记录中确定了在一家三级大流行医院急诊部就诊的新冠病毒门诊孕妇的数据,以及从国家数据库中分析了她们的新生儿听力筛查结果。我们排除了出生前<34 周的新生儿,以及数据库中报告的风险因素,如先天性异常或妊娠期间已知的 TORCH 感染。使用自动听性脑干反应或瞬态诱发耳声发射(TEOAE)进行筛查,首次筛查未通过的患者在至少 2 周后用第二次筛查进行重新评估。
新冠病毒组第二次筛查未通过的发生率为 1.3%,对照组为 2.9%,两组之间根据第二次测试的最终筛查结果未见显著差异。在 458 名母亲中,8 名在妊娠早期感染,126 名在妊娠中期感染,127 名在妊娠晚期感染,但在感染后 15 天内未分娩,197 名在分娩时呈阳性。感染组有 6 名新生儿第二次筛查未通过(妊娠中期 3 例[2.4%],妊娠晚期 1 例[0.8%],分娩时阳性 2 例[1.0%])。
根据新生儿听力筛查结果,妊娠期间感染新冠病毒并未发现是听力损失的一个风险因素。