Neonatal otoacoustic emission screening and sudden infant death syndrome.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Exploratory research findings have suggested that otoacoustic emission (OAE) recordings may be predictive for infants at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The present study aimed to investigate whether an actual SIDS prevalence rate was comparable to OAE-determined rates for "at risk" status. METHODS: Previously collected OAE results from 521 infants in Hong Kong were used for analyses and OAE-determined "at risk" rate compared to the prevalence rate for SIDS in Hong Kong infants. RESULTS: Results indicated that the OAE-determined rates were very much greater than the actual prevalence of SIDS in Hong Kong. CONCLUSION: The use of OAE screening to identify infants at risk for SIDS is therefore not advisable, using present criteria, as false alarm rates would be very high and this may cause unnecessary parental anxiety and a considerable additional burden to the health care system.