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
. 2022 Jan-Feb;88(1):112-117.
doi: 10.1016/j.bjorl.2020.05.007. Epub 2020 Jun 11.

Hearing and communicative skills in the first years of life in children with congenital Zika syndrome

Lucianna Cabral de Almeida  1 , Lílian Ferreira Muniz  1 , Rebeka Jacques Maciel  1 , Danielle Seabra Ramos  2 , Kátia Maria Gomes de Albuquerque  3 , Ângela Maria Carneiro Leão  3 , Matheus Vota de Mendonça  1 , Mariana de Carvalho Leal  1
Affiliations

Hearing and communicative skills in the first years of life in children with congenital Zika syndrome

Lucianna Cabral de Almeida et al. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol. 2022 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: Microcephaly is recognized as one of the main consequences of congenital Zika syndrome, but other serious problems such as global hypertonia, irritability, excessive crying, swallowing disorders, seizures, visual impairment and sensorineural hearing loss have been identified as associated with the syndrome.

Objective: Describe the developmental characteristics of hearing and language skills in the first year of life of children with normal hearing thresholds' and congenital Zika syndrome.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that evaluated hearing and language skills in the first year of life of 88 children with normal peripheral hearing and confirmed congenital Zika syndrome. All children were submitted to a behavioral auditory test and a validated questionnaire addressed to parents or caregivers, which was used as an instrument for assessing hearing and communicative skills.

Results: The delay in communicative skills was present in 87.5% of the children, while 44.3% of them demonstrated a delay in hearing acuity. Only the alteration of cervical motor control presented as a statistically significant association with delays in both skills (p-value=0.006 and <0.001 for hearing and communicative skills, respectively), while the presence of microcephaly and the degree of its severity were only associated with delayed development of communicative skills.

Conclusion: Despite a normal peripheral auditory system, children with congenital Zika syndrome may demonstrate delayed language development by having neurological damage at the center of auditory processing, requiring more specific studies to clarify language acquisition in this population.

Keywords: Child development; Hearing disorders; Zika virus infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Duffy M.R., Chen T.-H., Hancock W.T., Powers A.M., Kool J.L., Lanciotti R.S., et al. Zika virus outbreak on Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia. N Engl J Med. 2009;360:2536–2543. - PubMed
    1. Terskikh A.V., Pinto A., Farhy C., Gorshkov K., Strongin A.Y., Huang C.-T., et al. Zika virus: origins, pathological action, and treatment strategies. Front Microbiol. 2019;9:1–17. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lowe R., Barcellos C., Brasil P., Cruz O.G., Honório N.A., Kuper H., et al. The zika virus epidemic in brazil: From discovery to future implications. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15:96. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Eickmann S.H., Carvalho M.D.C.G., Ramos R.C.F., Rocha MÂW, Linden V. van der, Silva P.F.S.da. Síndrome da infecção congênita pelo vírus Zika TT - Zika virus congenital syndrome TT – Síndrome de la infección congénita del virus Zika. Cad Saude Publica (Online) 2016;32:1–3. - PubMed
    1. Ramos R.C.F., Rodrigues L.C., Van Der Linden V., Ferreira T.S.A., Neto S.S.C., Almeida L.C., et al. Hearing loss in infants with microcephaly and evidence of congenital zika virus infection – Brazil, November 2015–May 2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016;65:917–919. - PubMed