Analysis of neonatal hearing screening program performed on an outpatient basis: Analysis of an outpatient hearing...

The aims of the present study were to analyze the coverage of an outpatient hearing screening program in a public hospital for healthy newborns, to describe the social and demographic profile of the mothers and to identify the prevalence of infants with severe or profound hearing losses.

The method was descriptive and retrospective. In 2002 and 2003, the newborn hearing screening program was initiated in the maternity ward. Due to many logistic problems, in 2004, we implemented screening on an outpatient basis. Thus, upon discharge from the hospital, the mothers received a printed schedule referring the baby to an outpatient clinic. A two-stage screening protocol was implemented. The screening results were presented from 2004 to 2013.

The program was initiated on an outpatient basis in 2004. From 2004 to 2013, 14,882 infants were screened but the complete data for 14,205 cases were obtained. The adherence of the families was 32% in 2004 and increased to 85% in 2013. The mean age of the screened newborns was 48.66 days in 2005 and 24.53 days in 2013. The number of newborns who failed the test and were referred for diagnosis decreased from 12.3% in 2004 to 3% in 2013. The majority of the mothers were young, 69.77% of them aged up to 29 years old and 74.86% had completed basic education. Seventy infants showed hearing loss, totaling 0.49% or approximately 5 cases in 1000, with eight individuals diagnosed with severe or profound sensorineural hearing loss, totaling 0.06% or approximately six cases in 10,000.

The newborn hearing screening program offered by a public hospital in Brazil, over the years, has increased the coverage from 32% to 85%, and so, can be performed on an outpatient basis as an alternative to overcome the operating limitations that might occur in hospital hearing screening. The mothers of the newborns were young and had complete basic education; the prevalence was similar to international studies as hearing loss is concerned.