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Hearing and Verbal-Cognitive Abilities in High-Risk Preterm Infants Prone to Otitis Media with Effusion

1988; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 9; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/00004703-198812000-00006

1536-7312

Patsy Steig Pearce, Mary A. Saunders, Dianne Creighton, Reg Sauvé,

Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation

Preterm infants with a history of perinatal complications are at risk for language learning difficulties, and are more likely than full-term infants to show recurrent otitis media. The present study looks at the association between these risk outcomes in the preschool period. Twenty-three otitis-prone preterm children (referred to as cases) were compared with 20 non-otitis-prone children with similar perinatal and demographic characteristics (controls). Hearing thresholds were depressed for the cases in conjunction with abnormal tympanograms, and hearing was significantly poorer than for controls. Some language and verbal cognitive abilities were significantly poorer for the cases. The findings suggest the importance of medical intervention, audiometric assessment, and speech and language follow-up for high-risk premature infants prone to otitis media with effusion.