Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with newborn hearing screening outcomes in a low/middle-income country

Monday, October 13, 2025

8:06 AM - 8:12 AM EDT

Location: 244

Introduction: Newborn hearing loss has significant consequences on quality of life and cognitive development, and its early diagnosis is essential to mitigate the individual and collective impacts of this disability. However, few epidemiological studies describe the factors associates with hearing screening outcomes in low-/middle-income populations. This project aims to characterize and identify sociodemographic and medical factors in newborns and infants who failed the first hearing screening test at an audiological referral center in Colombia, a low-middle income country.

Methods: Observational, analytic, cross-sectional study conducted between January and June 2023. Sociodemographic and clinical data were extracted from a survey developed and executed at an audiological referral center to identify any relations in the newborn population with hearing screening abnormalities.

Results: Up to 286 children were included. The female/male ratio was 172/211 (44.91%/55.09%), the median age was 2.22 months (IQR:1.29-3.93months), 32.87% (n=94) of the participants were premature, and 22.73% (n=65) had low birth weight. 18.53% (CI 95% [14.20-23.52]) of the participants failed the first hearing screening in at least one ear studied. Poisson robust regression revealed an association between first screening test fail and placental abruption (aPR:2.5; 95%CI: 1.2-4.8), and eclampsia (aPR:3.4; 95%CI: 1.01-11).

Conclusions: These results suggest that certain maternal conditions, such as placental abruption and eclampsia, may be related to a higher frequency of neonatal hearing loss. Considering these findings, studies are needed in low-/middle-income populations to assess implementation of early interventions that may include the assessment of obstetric factors as part of the neonatals screening.

Presenting Author(s)

Jose D. Martes-Fritz

School of medicine
Universidad de Los Andes
BOGOTA, Distrito Capital de Bogota, Colombia

Disclosure(s):
faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Co-Author(s)

SM

Sergio Moreno-López, PhD

School of medicine
Universidad de Los Andes / UNIMEQ-ORL, Colombia

Disclosure information not submitted.
LP

Lucia C. Perez-Herrera, MD

Department of Global Public Health
Karolinska Institutet / UNIMEQ-ORL
Bogota, Distrito Capital de Bogota, Colombia

Disclosure information not submitted.
CZ

Catalina Zapata-Rozo, MD

School of medicine
Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia

Disclosure information not submitted.
DP

Daniel Peñaranda, MD

Resident of otorhinolaryngology
Hospital San Jose / FUCS
Bogota, Distrito Capital de Bogota, Colombia

Disclosure information not submitted.
AV

Andrea Velasquez, AuD

Audiology Section
UNIMEQ-ORL, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.
JR

Jonathan Rojas, AuD

Audiology Section
UNIMEQ-ORL, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.
DP

Diana Peña, AuD

Audiology Section
UNIMEQ-ORL, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.

Senior Author(s)

AP

Augusto Peñaranda, MD

Deparment of otolaryngology
Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá / Universidad de Los Andes
Bogotá, Distrito Capital de Bogota, Colombia

Disclosure information not submitted.