Comparison of hearing screening outcomes in newborns of gestational diabetic and non-diabetic mothers: a prospective, controlled study.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is related to presumptive hearing impairment in newborns. STUDY DESIGN: The newborns were divided into two groups. The first group included the children of gestational diabetic pregnancies (DPs), and the second group, the children of non-gestational diabetic pregnancies (NDPs). Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) and automated Auditory Brainstem Response (aABR) tests were applied as hearing screening tests. RESULTS: Twenty (40.8%) newborns in the DPs group and 5 (7.7%) newborns in the NDPs group failed the first hearing screening test (p = .001). The number of newborns with bilateral failed hearing screening tests was higher in the DPs group at the first screening (75% vs. 20%, p = .04). Fifteen (75.0%) of 20 newborns in the DPs group and 1 (20.0%) of 5 newborns in the NDPs group failed the second TEOAE hearing screening test (p = .04). CONCLUSION: The possibility of presumptive hearing impairment is higher in the newborns of mothers with gestational diabetes compared to the newborns of non-diabetic mothers.