Short-term outcome of brainstem auditory function in term infants after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVES

To examine short-term outcome of brainstem auditory function in term infants after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

METHODS

Brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER) was recorded and analysed at various click rates at 2-4 months of age in 43 term NICU graduates. The data were compared with those in age-matched normal controls.

RESULTS

The threshold of BAER in the NICU graduates was marginally elevated. The graduates also showed an increase in wave III latency at 91/s and wave V latency at all 21-91/s. The I-V interval was increased at 51 and 91/s, whereas the I-III and III-V intervals were slightly increased, with no significant differences from normal controls at any click rates. The amplitudes of waves I and V in the NICU graduates were moderately reduced at all click rates. Wave III amplitudes were reduced at 51 and 91/s. None of the slopes of BAER variables-rate functions in the NICU graduates differed significantly from normal controls.

CONCLUSIONS

The BAER was moderately abnormal in the NICU graduates, suggesting that brainstem auditory function is moderately impaired at 2-4 months of age after discharge. There is a need to monitor postnatal auditory and neural development for NICU graduates.