Abstract

Aim: It is a scientific fact that certain viral infections during pregnancy cause hearing loss in newborns. The aim of this study was to investigate whether such infections are the cause of congenital hearing loss. This study was based on an examination of the hearing screening of newborns born to pregnant women affected by the current pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is responsible for the disease designated Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Materials and Methods: In this retrospective case-control study, demographic data and ABR hearing test results of a total of 81 newborns were compared with those of 101 healthy controls. The newborns were born to mothers who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) during pregnancy between March and September 2022. The mothers of the healthy controls had no problems during pregnancy.

Results: The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity during pregnancy was 3.5%. A higher cesarean delivery rate was observed in the group with positive SARS-CoV-2 infection (p=0.028). The failure rate of the initial screening test was higher in both groups (22/81 vs. 25/101; p=0.712). However, a subsequent analysis revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the results of the secondary follow-up screening (p=0.926).

Conclusion: The study data suggest that there is no indication that maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy results in neonatal hearing loss.

Keywords: COVID-19, hearing loss, pregnancy, newborn

Copyright and license

Copyright © 1970 The Author(s). This is an open-access article published by Bolu İzzet Baysal Training and Research Hospital under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

1.
Akça Ü, Sanrı E, Akça G. Evaluation of hearing screening results of newborns born to SARS-CoV-2 positive pregnant women. Northwestern Med J. 2025;5(1):46-50. https://doi.org/10.54307/2025.NWMJ.78

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