The Effect of Mode of Delivery on Newborn Hearing Screening Results

Congenital hearing loss is one of the most important public health problems with a frequency of about 1-6 per 1000 live births all over the world. Although neonatal hearing screening tests are important for the timely detection and rehabilitation of hearing loss, determining the factors that may affect the screening results will contribute greatly to the development of screening programs. In this study, the effects of the modes of delivery on the results of tests in the screening program was investigated.

In this study, the results of 10.575 newborns who were screened according to the National Neonatal Hearing Screening Protocol between January 2013 and May 2017 were evaluated. The screening test results of 2.653 newborns were examined retrospectively according to the type of delivery after candidates were excluded according to the exclusion criteria and risk factors for hearing loss. Of these newborns, 1.571 (59.2%) were born by normal delivery and 1.082 (40.8%) by cesarean section. Screening test results were analyzed using Pearson's Chi-square test.

No statistically significant difference was observed among the 2.653 neonatal hearing screening test results in terms of mode of delivery (p>0.05). In both delivery modes, the rate of false positive was found to be high (81.9%) in the first hearing screening test of newborns, and this rate decreased in the second screening test (14.5%).

The mode of delivery has no significant effect on the neonatal hearing screening results; however, the observation that neonates had been more successful in the second screening test in both groups suggests that the test protocol should be re-evaluated in terms of timing.