Newborn hearing screening in youth health care in the Netherlands: National results of implementation and follow-up

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate whether the quality of the Dutch, community based, universal newborn hearing screening programme is consistent over time. Design: Universal newborn hearing screening data from three cohorts are compared on a number of quality targets concerning the outcome of the screening and the process of the screening in a three stage, community based, hearing screening programme. Study sample: A total of 552 820 children entered the study (189 794 in 2002–2006; 181 574 in 2008, and 181 452 in 2009). Results: Participation in the programme is high from implementation onwards and increases over time for all screen stages to percentages above 99%. Refer rates are within quality targets and they are consistent over time. The screening is completed within 42 days of birth for 91.5% of the children in the last cohort. Of all children screened, 0.29% to 0.30% are referred to a speech and hearing centre. Participation in diagnostic testing is 93.3% to 95.2%. Of all referred children 77% to 85% receive a diagnosis within 122 days of birth. Conclusions: A good quality neonatal hearing screening programme in youth health care has been established in the Netherlands. However, both participation in diagnostic testing after a positive screen result and the timing of the diagnostic testing can still be improved.

Key Words::

• Universal neonatal hearing screening (UNHS)
• implementation
• youth health care
• hearing loss (HL)
• newborn

Acknowledgements

Implementation of NHS and data collection for the 2002–2006 cohort was funded by ZonMw (grant number 2500.0010). We thank the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Centre for Population Screening, Bilthoven, The Netherlands for the use of the data on the 2008 and 2009 cohort.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no declarations of interest.