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Seasonality sway birth and hearing loss?

Abstract

Background

Birth is a biological process that involves the emergence of an offspring. A seasonal variation in the frequency of births is reported as a universal phenomenon in the human population. In review to outline of birth, newborns may yield seasonality in the occurrence of congenital hearing loss. Congenital hearing loss is one of the most common birth defects affecting ~3/1000 newborns.

Aim

The aim of this study was to rule out seasonality of birth and percentage of hearing loss in early days of newborns.

Patients and methods

Seasonality of birth was analyzed across the years and newborns born per month were numbered to surpass the subjective and objective Universal Neonatal Hearing Screening Program before 1 month of age.Combined results of the subjective and objective tests were analyzed and compared to make the final decision as Pass or Refer.

Results

Statistical analysis revealed that birth frequency and newborn hearing loss do not follow seasonality pattern.

Conclusion

Similarly, there was no correlation between the birth frequency and percentages of newborns with refer impression.

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Correspondence to Teja D. Dessai MSc.

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Dessai, T.D., Ashraf, H. & Michael, C. Seasonality sway birth and hearing loss?. Egypt J Otolaryngol 33, 84–88 (2017). https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.199418

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.199418

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