Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome and Infant Hearing Assessment: A Kids’ Inpatient Database Review

Objective: Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) has become an epidemic. This study assesses documented rates of failed newborn hearing screening (NBHS) or hearing loss diagnosis (HL) in NAS infants, and sociodemographic factors associated with abnormal inpatient hearing results. Methods: The 2016 HCUP/KID national database was used to identify a weighted sample of infants with failed NBHS/HL during birth hospitalization. Independent variables included diagnoses of NAS/in-utero opioid exposure, HL risk factor presence and sociodemographic data. Univariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression were used to determine associations between NAS and abnormal hearing assessment. Results:NAS infants had lower odds ratio (OR) of documented failed NBHS (OR=0.76, p Conclusion: NAS children have lower rates of inpatient documented failed NBHS and higher rates of HL diagnosis. The complex medical care of these infants could complicate NBHS, documentation, and subsequent follow-up. Certain sociodemographic factors result in a higher risk of hearing loss