Evasion of Newborn Hearing Screening retest: relation with risk factors for hearing impairment

Abstract

Purpose: to analyze the evasion rate of the Newborn Hearing Screening program’s retest, to verify whether the presence of risk indicators for hearing loss influences it, and to describe which risk indicators for hearing loss occur more frequently in these cases. Methods: 1,287 newborns/infants participated, who were screened between June 2015 and June 2018. All of them obtained "fail" as the Newborn Hearing Screening result, were referred to the retest and did not attend it. Information related to the occurrence of risk indicators for hearing loss was observed. Results: the study found that the evasion rate was of 15.23%. The presence of risk indicators for hearing loss did not show an association with non-attendance at this stage of the program (p-value = 0.087). The most frequent indicators in the cases of non-attendance at the retest were: ototoxic medication use and intensive care unit stay for more than five days. Conclusion: high evasion rate of the retest has been observed. It has been found that the presence of risk indicators did not influence the retest evasion rate. Use of ototoxic medication and stay at the intensive care unit were the most frequent indicators among those who did not attend the retest.

Universal neonatal hearing screening program at a university hospital: an analysis using quality indicators

“…Of the NBs referred for diagnosis, 86.9% attended it, which is below the expected in the indicators (90%) 15 . Other pieces of research found diagnostic attendance rates below 70% [22][23][24] .…”

“…The non-adherence to the UNHS -i.e., non-attendance to the test, retest, or diagnostic examinationis one of the main barriers to successful screening programs 15 . Socioeconomic and cultural factors may explain the non-adherence on the part of the families.…”