Sameer Pootheri1, Rosmi Mathew2
BACKGROUND
Among all the disabilities, hearing loss is the most prevalent all over the world. It
does not cause mortality but results in huge loss in one’s social, educational and
economic well-being. The prevalence rate of hearing loss in India is 5 - 6 newborn
infants per 1000 births. The disabled infants are identified on an average at the
end of second year; by then irreversible damage would have occurred with failure
to develop speech. Global screening to detect infants with hearing loss would only
decrease the burden of deafness in our society. The purpose of the study is to find
out the profile of the High Risk Babies with hearing loss in Malabar region in Kerala,
India and determine the common high risk factors for hearing loss among the
new-born infants.
METHODS
A retrospective study was conducted between 1st January 2015 and 31st December
2017, wherein the new-borns of Malabar region, Kerala were screened for their
hearing disorders. 45,867 new-born infants were screened by adopting High Risk
Register (HRR) - A New-born screening for communication disorders developed at
All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, [AIISH] Mysore which was used between
0 to 28 days. Trained medical staff collected the data as per the High Risk Register
(HRR).
RESULTS
Among the 5728 infants with positive high risk factors 3547 (61.92 %) were male
infants and the remaining 2181 (38.07 %) were female infants. Among the risk
factors enlisted in the High Risk Register (HRR), premature births, low birth
weight, delayed birth cry, low APGAR score and consanguinity were most common
among the new-born with hearing loss in Malabar region of Kerala. The incidences
of risk factors based on HRR for the three-year period showed premature births in
24.71 % of the infants, delayed birth cry in 11.22 %, low APGAR score in 06.71
%, low birth weight in 04.46 % and history of consanguinity in 03.06 %.
CONCLUSIONS
The overall prevalence of high risk factors among the new-born infants screened
was 12.48 % which was higher than the national prevalence. The study has a
bearing and relevance to new-born hearing screening in Kerala state, where this
type of screening was not performed routinely in all hospitals.
