Risk Factors and Prognostic Factors of Hearing Impairment in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit-Treated Infants.

BACKGROUND

Infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) have a higher incidence of congenital hearing loss compared with the healthy newborn population.

OBJECTIVES

To clarify the relationship between risk factors for hearing impairment in NICU-treated infants and deterioration of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) threshold during childhood.

METHOD: We screened 1,071 high-risk infants admitted to the NICU for hearing impairment. One-hundred forty-eight infants exhibited an abnormal ABR threshold of ≥40 dB nHL. We analyzed the correlation of change in ABR threshold with risk factors for future hearing impairment.

RESULTS

Among infants treated in the NICU, 148 (13.8%) exhibited an ABR threshold of ≥40 dB nHL; 107 of these 148 (72.3%) showed hearing change in the process (102 showed improvement to normal hearing level, whereas 5 showed further deterioration). Our analysis showed that the factors contributing to the elevation of ABR threshold were oxygen administration and chromosomal aberrations.

CONCLUSIONS

Factors related to the elevation of ABR threshold were oxygen administration and the presence of chromosomal aberrations. Awareness of risk factors that are more likely to cause hearing loss in infants may aid in follow-up treatment of these children.