Resultados de aplicar durante 13 años el protocolo de cribado universal de la hipoacusia en recién nacidos y estudio de los casos que no superan el cribado

Laburpena

Introduction: Early detection of hearing loss allows early treatment of these patients by significantly improving their prognosis. With this aim, the universal screening program for neonatal hearing loss was implemented in the Comunidad Valenciana. Material and methods: The results of this screening are studied, from its implementation in January 2002 to December 2014 (13 consecutive years). Subsequently, all the cases that did not pass the screening were reviewed. Results: The coverage of the screening reaches in a few years to practically 100% of the population, with 14339 of newborns being screened. The overall rate of referral to confirmation was 1% and there was 0.7% of losses. Thirty-two cases of neurosensory hearing loss were diagnosed (2.23/1000 newborns). We studied those cases that did not pass the auditory screening, finding an association between different variables such as family history of deafness and gestational age with the presence of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Conclusions: The neonatal hearing loss screening program requires a few years to be fully universalized and can reliably fulfill the recommendations of Comisión para la Detección Precoz de la Hipoacusia. After studying those cases that did not exceed the screening, gestational age is proposed as a risk factor for the development of hearing loss. Neonates with craniofacial malformations would also benefit from being referred directly to confirmatory test, as well as from the imaging test, due to the high probability of associated malformative pathology in the middle ear. On the other hand, this study allows the recommendation of a cardiological study to the newborns with diagnosis of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.