A collaborative nine-centre study was designed to follow the routes to identification of all children up to the age of seven years newly diagnosed with permanent hearing impairment (> or = 50 dB HL) during the period 1993-1994. Ages of identification were compared with the standards set by the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS), ascertaining whether these targets could be achieved with current service provision. Of the 126 children identified, 104 had congenital sensorineural hearing loss: 19% were identified by the age of six months and 39% by their first year. These results fall short of the NDCS targets of 40% and 80%, respectively, and point to the need for modifications of current practice, such as the introduction of universal neonatal screening.
A paediatric hearing assessment unit was set up in Lothian in 1978 to provide a clear referral pathway for children with suspected sensorineural hearing impairment and particularly for those children detected by the health visitor screening test. Over a 6-year-period the incidence of bilateral sensorineural deafness was 1.3/1000 suggesting that all children in the region were being seen. The mean age of diagnosis fell significantly over this period. Children in high risk groups, through adverse perinatal events or a positive family history, were not detected any earlier than other children. They were therefore not contributing to this improved earlier age of diagnosis. These findings support the continuation of health visitor screening but changes in practice are needed to encourage earlier diagnosis in high-risk groups.
The records for all children from a five-year birth cohort in the geographically defined area of Lothian who were referred by their health visitor to a centralized second tier audiology service after they failed their 7-9 month infant distraction hearing screen were reviewed. The sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values and yield of this screen for the detection of significant sensorineural hearing loss > or =40 dBA requiring aiding and for a conductive loss persisting beyond one month over 30 dBA were determined. In addition, the records were studied for the same five-year birth cohort for children presenting to the centralized multidisciplinary third tier clinic with a significant sensorineural hearing loss requiring aiding, and the reasons for late diagnosis were determined. If high risk neonatal screening had been available for this population then potentially 67.5% (27 out of 40) of cases could have been identified by an appropriate age. Elimination of health visitor distraction screen false negatives for cases with loses over 60 dBA would potentially increase the case identification by the appropriate age to 45% (1 8 out of 40). Thus, there is greater scope for improving our present results with the introduction of high risk neonatal screening than by improvements in the health visitor screen.
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