Universal newborn hearing screening program: 10-year outcome and follow-up from a screening center in Germany

Introduction: The study reports on the newborn hearing screening program for the North-Rhine and the hospital-based screening within this framework at a University Children"s Hospital for 2007-2016.

Methods The two-staged screening (HS) and follow-up (FU) program, recruits newborns through participating birth facilities. In HS healthy newborns are screened with TEOAE, and ones with risk factors receive an AABR. The FU consists of failed newborns receiving repeat AABR, and referral to pediatric audiology in case of failed repeat AABR. Results are sent digitally to the regional tracking center (TC). Data from the TC for the North-Rhine and from the University Hospital were analyzed for benchmarks.

Results The newborns from the participating birth facilities in North-Rhine increased significantly from 1.4% in 2007 to 57.5% in 2016. The coverage rate for participating birth facilities was 98.7%, the referral rate was 3.4%, and lost to follow-up was 1% for the 10 years. At the university hospital>95% of the newborns completed their screening within 30 days, the 10-year referral rate was 5%. 64% of the newborns were referred within 3 months of age. Among the newborns processed at the regional center at the hospital performing initial and repeat AABR and handling the referral to the pediatric audiology, the median days of life for the completion of "screening" was 6 days, referral was 74 days and diagnosis was 55 days.

Conclusion Regional centralized hearing screening and tracking centers with uniform structure are necessary for effective quality control. Obligatory quality reports for all centers may improve performance. Nevertheless, the recommended quality criteria are demanding and can only be achieved with considerable financial and infrastructural expenditure.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
19. April 2024