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Community-based newborn hearing screening programme for early detection of permanent hearing loss in Iran: an
Mohsen Firoozbakht1, Saeid Mahmoudian, Farshid Alaeddini
1Director of Screening Group, State Welfare Organization (SWO) of Iran.
Insights
Iran
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Audiology
- Public Health
Background:
- Neonatal hearing impairment affects 3 in 1000 infants.
- Early detection and intervention are crucial for infant development.
- Iran initiated a nationwide newborn hearing screening program in 2005.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report the prevalence of infant hearing impairment in Iran.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the national newborn hearing screening program.
- To analyze trends in hearing impairment prevalence over eight years.
Main Methods:
- Screened 3,350,995 infants between 2005 and 2012.
- Utilized a serial screening method: transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) followed by automated auditory brainstem responses (AABRs).
- Referred infants with positive results for further diagnostic and rehabilitation services.
Main Results:
- Overall infant hearing impairment prevalence was 3 per 1000.
- Prevalence decreased from 5 per 1000 in early years to 2.6 per 1000 by 2012.
- Referral rates decreased significantly with each screening stage (14.5% to 0.2%), and follow-up rates improved (70% to 85%).
Conclusions:
- Infant hearing impairment prevalence in Iran is comparable to global rates.
- The serial TEOAEs/AABRs screening protocol is effective for identifying hearing loss in newborns.
- The program demonstrates efficiency and improving follow-up rates over time.
Objectives:
We here present the results of the first eight years of the newborn hearing screening programme in Iran, with a view to establishing the prevalence of hearing impairment among infants, and the efficacy of the programme.
Methods:
A total of 3,350,995 infants were screened using the series method of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs)/automated auditory brainstem responses (AABRs), between 2005 and 2012. The infants were first tested for TEOAEs (three times). Based on the results of this test, the positive cases were referred to the next stage, where they were tested for AABRs. If they also tested positive on AABRs, they were referred to the diagnostic and rehabilitation stages.
Results:
Results of this study indicated an infant hearing impairment prevalence of 3 per 1000. Although this rate was as high as 5 per 1000 in the early years of the programme, it decreased to 2.6 per 1000 in the last year. The absolute referral rate was 14.5% in the first stage, which decreased to 0.9% and 0.2% in the second and the third stages, respectively. The follow-up rate was 70% in the first stage, which increased up to 73% and 85% in the second and the third stages, respectively.
Conclusion:
The study results suggest that the prevalence of hearing impairment in infants in Iran is comparable with that in developed and developing countries, and that the series TEOAEs/AABRs method used in the screening programme in Iran is efficient.
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