Risk factors for hearing loss in infants: a systematic review

Background and Objective: Hearing loss as a sensory disorder is among the most common developmental disorders. Based on the universal neonatal screening results, the incidence of hearing deficit is 1–3 per 1000 live births in the well-baby nursery population and 2–4 in 100 newborns in the intensive care community. The aim of this study was to highlight the main risk factors for hearing loss based on the existing evidence. Materials and Methods: We searched all observational studies related to risk factors of hearing loss from 1990 to 2019 in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science direct, and google scholar search engines. Quality of the included studies was evaluated by the STROBE checklist. Totally, 17 observational studies met our inclusion criteria. Results: In most of the reviewed studies, the relations between hearing loss in infants and some maternal and neonatal variables such as ventilatory support, craniofacial anomalies, hyperbilirubinemia, meningitis, Apgar scores, sepsis, asphyxia, stay in intensive care units, respiratory distress syndrome, and pulmonary surfactant were statistically significant. Conclusion: Our results indicated that ventilator support, craniofacial anomalies, low birth weight, and hyperbilirubinemia were the main statistically significant risk factors for hearing-loss.