Effects of vaginal birth versus caesarean section on hearing screening results in a large series from the Aegean region

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effects of caesarian section (CS) versus vaginal birth (VB) delivery techniques on results from neonatal hearing screening tests (NHSTs).

Design: Retrospective analysis.

Study sample: A total of 10,767 neonates divided into two groups according to delivery technique underwent NHSTs. Those who failed TEOAE or AABR were sent for diagnostic ABR examination.

Results: A total of 5620 of 6044 (92.9%) of the neonates in the CS group passed the TEOAE test bilaterally and 424 (7.1%) failed either unilaterally or bilaterally. In the VB group, 4496 of 4723 (95.1%) neonates passed the TEOAE test bilaterally, while the remaining 227 (4.9%) failed the test either unilaterally or bilaterally. Bilateral passing rate of TEOAE test results was significantly higher in the VB group than the CS group (p < 0.05). The AABR failure rate (unilaterally or bilaterally) was 1% in the CS group, which was significantly higher than that in the VB group (0.6%). Diagnostic ABR bilateral pass rate was not statistically different between the groups.

Conclusions: Delivery method was shown to affect the results of NHSTs. We found that the rates of failing the TEOAE and screening AABR examinations were higher among neonates born by CS compared to VB.

Keywords:

• Delivery techniques
• hearing screening
• Aegean region

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

“All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.”