Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Jun;28(6):515-20.
doi: 10.1097/INF.0b013e318198c724.

Cytomegalovirus shedding and delayed sensorineural hearing loss: results from longitudinal follow-up of children with congenital infection

Lauren Stancik Rosenthal  1 , Karen B Fowler, Suresh B Boppana, William J Britt, Robert F Pass, Scott D Schmid, Sergio Stagno, Michael J Cannon
Affiliations

Cytomegalovirus shedding and delayed sensorineural hearing loss: results from longitudinal follow-up of children with congenital infection

Lauren Stancik Rosenthal et al. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2009 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The pathogenesis of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-related hearing loss is not well understood.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between persistent CMV shedding and delayed sensorineural hearing loss in children born with congenital CMV.

Methods: Serial audiologic assessments and CMV cultures of urine and saliva were performed on 580 children who had been diagnosed with congenital CMV infection.

Results: Prevalence of CMV culture-positivity in any specimen decreased to approximately 50% by the third birthday and approximately 5% after the seventh birthday. Intermittent shedding occurred in 28% of children. Seventy-seven children had hearing loss at birth and 38 children developed delayed hearing loss by the end of follow-up. In multivariate analyses, delayed hearing loss was strongly associated with symptomatic infection at birth (OR = 5.9, 95% CI: 1.8-18.9) and modestly associated with older age at last culture-positive visit (OR = 1.6, 95% CI: 1.1-2.0, comparing 1-year age differences) Observed rates of delayed hearing loss were 0.79 per 100 person-years for children asymptomatic at birth and 4.29 per 100 person-years for children symptomatic at birth. Between the ages of 6 months and 8 years, we would expect delayed hearing loss to occur in 6.9% of asymptomatic children and in 33.7% of symptomatic children.

Conclusions: The strongest risk factor for delayed hearing loss was CMV-related symptoms at birth, but many asymptomatic children also developed delayed hearing loss. Longer duration of CMV shedding may also be a predictor of delayed hearing loss.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Staras SAS, Dollard SC, Radford KW, Flanders WD, Pass RF, Cannon MJ. Seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus infection in the United States, 1988–1994. Clin Infect Dis. 2006;43:1143–1151. - PubMed
    1. Colugnati FA, Staras SA, Dollard SC, Cannon MJ. Incidence of cytomegalovirus infection among the general population and pregnant women in the United States. BMC Infect Dis. 2007;7:71. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kenneson A, Cannon MJ. Review and meta-analysis of the epidemiology of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Rev Med Virol. 2007;17:253–276. - PubMed
    1. Nance WE, Lim BG, Dodson KM. Importance of congenital cytomegalovirus infections as a cause for pre-lingual hearing loss. J Clin Virol. 2006;35:221–225. - PubMed
    1. Dollard SC, Grosse SD, Ross DS. New estimates of the prevalence of neurological and sensory sequelae and mortality associated with congenital cytomegalovirus infection. Rev Med Virol. 2007 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms