Risk Factors for Sensorineural Hearing Loss and Auditory Maturation in Children Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units: Who Recovered?
Pietro Salvago,
Angelo Immordino,
Fulvio Plescia,
Marianna Mucia,
Andrea Albera,
Francesco Martines
Affiliations
Pietro Salvago
Dipartimento di Biomedicina, Neuroscienze e Diagnostica Avanzata (BiND), Sezione di Audiologia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via del Vespro 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Angelo Immordino
Dipartimento di Biomedicina, Neuroscienze e Diagnostica Avanzata (BiND), Sezione di Otroinolaringoiatria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via del Vespro 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Fulvio Plescia
Dipartimento di Promozione della Salute, Materno-Infantile, di Medicina Interna e Specialistica di Eccellenza “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, Piazza delle Cliniche 2, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Marianna Mucia
UOSD Audiologia, A.O.U.P. “Paolo Giaccone”, Via del Vespro 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Andrea Albera
Dipartimento di Scienze Chirurgiche, Sezione di Otorinolaringoiatria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Corso Dogliotti 14, 10126 Torino, Italy
Francesco Martines
Dipartimento di Biomedicina, Neuroscienze e Diagnostica Avanzata (BiND), Sezione di Audiologia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via del Vespro 129, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Background: Newborns admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are at higher risk of developing sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), which may improve over time. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of the main risk factors for SNHL in a NICU cohort, focusing on children who underwent auditory maturation. Methods: An observational study of 378 children admitted to NICUs, who were followed for at least 18 months, with periodic audiologic assessments. Results: Out of 378 patients, 338 had normal hearing and 40 were hearing-impaired; we found a higher percentage of extremely preterm (EPT) and extremely low-birthweight (ELBW) infants in SNHL children (p p = 0.005). The initial hearing threshold was a predictor of auditory improvement and moderately correlated to the time of auditory maturation (p = 0.02). Conclusions: Our study supports the trend toward recognizing worse prognoses and slower maturation processes among NICU children who suffer from severe to profound SNHL. Caution must be taken when deciding on earlier cochlear implantation.
