Whilst most of the newborn babies look and indeed are normal at birth, there are certain metabolic, cardiac, urological, eye and ear diseases which may not be apparent at birth.
Sometimes such disorders may not be detectable by physical checkup of baby, but may present later in life from neonatal age through infancy and childhood till adolescence, explains Dr Jai Kumar Motwani, Specialist Pediatrician, Zulekha Hospital, Sharjah.
New born screening tests include a group of blood tests where a few drops of blood from newborn’s heel are taken on a filter paper and sent to laboratory for analysis. There are roughly 48 different diseases for which metabolic screening can be done. Also most important is hearing screening in newborn and during infancy.
It is estimated that 1-2 babies out of 1,000 are born with a hearing loss in one or both ears. Early identification of mild/moderate hearing loss is of paramount importance for overall development of child specially language development which is dependent upon input signals.
Even mild hearing loss which may go unnoticed by parents and family physician/pediatrician may have greater impact on scholastic performances in future. Such children are more likely to perform below their grade level, more likely to drop out of school, fail to earn higher degrees as compared to normal peer group.
Usually this screening is done within first week of life and in case of any dubious results may be repeated in another week.
Those babies who don’t pass the screening tests are sent to audiologists for detailed evaluation and further management. However even if a baby passes the initial screening, audiological monitoring should be done every six months for three years because certain conditions may not produce immediate hearing loss.
It is important to have child checked if following conditions are present
> Family member has hearing loss
> Preterm baby admitted in NICU and requiring ventilator etc, high levels of neonatal jaundice
> Infections coming from mother when baby is in utero.
> Certain chromosomal syndromes or some neurodegenerative disorders identified by pediatrician at birth or thereafter
> Meningitis, head injury, mumps
> Recurrent middle ear infections
> Any delay in development noted by parent/pediatrician specially delay in speech, language, or any child responding to loud sounds only.
> Exposure to loud noises (noise pollution)
There are two methods by which new born hearing screening is done — otoacoustic emissions (OAE) and automated auditory brain stem responses (AABR). Both the methods are inexpensive and easy to carry out without any inconvenience to babies.
By Dr Jai Kumar Motwani
Specialist Pediatrician.
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