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
Review
. 2021 Jun 24;10(13):2784.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10132784.

Outcomes of Universal Newborn Screening Programs: Systematic Review

Christine Yoshinaga-Itano  1 , Vinaya Manchaiah  2 , Cynthia Hunnicutt  1
Affiliations
Review

Outcomes of Universal Newborn Screening Programs: Systematic Review

Christine Yoshinaga-Itano et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: This systematic review examined the outcomes (age of identification and intervention, developmental outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and adverse effects on parents) of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) for children with permanent congenital hearing loss (PCHL).

Materials and methods: Multiple electronic databases were interrogated in March and April 2020 with further reports identified from article citations and unpublished literature. UNHS reports in English with comparisons of outcomes of infants who were not screened, and infants identified through other hearing screening programs.

Results: 30 eligible reports from 14 populations with 7,325,138 infants screened through UNHS from 1616 non-duplicate references were included. UNHS results in a lower age of identification, amplification, and the initiation of early intervention services and better language/literacy development. Better speech perception/production were shown in younger, but not in older, children with early identification after UNHS. No significant findings were found for behavior problems and quality of life. UNHS was found to be cost-effective in terms of savings to society. In addition, no significant parental harm was noted as a result of UNHS.

Conclusions: In highly developed countries, significantly better outcomes were found for children identified early through UNHS programs. Early language development predicts later literacy and language development.

Keywords: childhood hearing loss; early identification; early intervention; intervention outcomes; newborn hearing screening; permanent childhood hearing loss; universal hearing screening.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No authors have either a financial or non-financial conflict of interest related to the content of this submission.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA systematic review flow diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Butcher E., Dezateux C., Cortina-Borja M., Knowles R.L. Prevalence of permanent childhood hearing loss detected at the universal newborn hearing screen: Systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE. 2019;14:e0219600. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219600. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bussé A.M.L., Hoeve H.L.J., Nasserinejad K., Mackey A.R., Simonsz H.J., Goedegebure A. Prevalence of permanent neonatal hearing impairment: Systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis. Int. J. Audiol. 2020;59:475–485. doi: 10.1080/14992027.2020.1716087. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Qi S., Mitchell R.E. Large-scale academic achievement testing of deaf and hard-of-hearing students: Past, present, and future. J. Deaf. Stud. Deaf. Educ. 2011;17:1–18. doi: 10.1093/deafed/enr028. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wauters L.N., Van Bon W.H.J., Tellings A.E.J.M. Reading comprehension of Dutch deaf children. Read. Writ. 2006;19:49–76. doi: 10.1007/s11145-004-5894-0. - DOI
    1. Nelson H.D., Bougatsos C., Nygren P. Universal newborn hearing screening: Systematic review to update the 2001 US preventive services task force recommendation. Pediatrics. 2008;122:e266–e276. doi: 10.1542/peds.2007-1422. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources