Hearing Screening in Neonates of Pre-eclamptic Mother

Background: The incidence of congenital sensorineural hearing loss in the new-born is higher than the combined incidence of all the metabolic conditions that we currently screen for with blood tests, the tool we are using, and the timing of screening are very important.  Aim of the work:To evaluate the possible effects of pre-eclampsia on the neonate’s hearing and determine the best timing to perform the screening. Patients and Methods:Seventy neonates were included, they were divided into two groups: control group included 40 neonates born to healthy mothers and study group included 30 neonates born to pre-eclamptic mothers. All neonates in this study subjected to the following: screening with handheld transient evoked otoacoustic emission [TEOAEs] within the first 48 hours after delivery. Infants who failed the first TEOAEs, were re-examined two weeks later. If failed, they were re-examined for the third time with TEOAEs two weeks later. Results: There were statistically significant difference between the study and the control group as regards the TEOAES results (p-value = 0.001) in the first and second screening tests. In the control group, 73.8% passed from the first time, versus 41.7% of the study group. In the second TEOAEs, 17.5% control versus 41.7% of the study group. Conclusion: Preeclampsia has some temporary effect on hearing in the newborns of pre-eclamptic mothers. So, it’s better to postpone the first neonatal hearing screening of these babies, to be performed 2 weeks after delivery.