Evaluation of newborn hearing screening program

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To evaluate Newborn Hearing Screening Program of Hospital Regional de Sobradinho, from January 2016 to December 2017, according to Multiprofessional Committee on Auditory Health parameters and Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) recommendations, as well as to describe the prevalence of risk factors for hearing loss within the study population and their impact on the respective program. METHOD This is a quantitative, cross-sectional and retrospective study that carefully analyzed registration books of screened newborns. It was established the prevalence of “pass” and “fail” in test and retest, retest percentage of attendance and referral for audiological diagnosis. Risk factors for hearing loss were described, as well as their influence on “pass” and “fail” rates. Inferential statistical analysis was performed using chi-square test and Anderson-Darling test, with 5% reliability index. RESULTS A total of 3,981 newborns were screened; 2,963 (74.4%) presented no risk factors whereas 1,018 (25.6%) did, prematurity being the most frequent (51.6%). In the test, 166 (4.2%) failed and 118 (71.1%) attended the retest. The referral rate for diagnosis was 0.3%. CONCLUSION Regarding the percentage of referral for diagnosis, the program reached indexes recommended by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing and Multiprofessional Committee on Auditory Health. The most prevalent risk factor within the population was prematurity.