The impact of universal newborn hearing screening on long-term literacy outcomes: a prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the benefits of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) seen at age 8 years persist through the second decade.

DESIGN: Prospective cohort study of a population sample of children with permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) followed up for 17 years since birth in periods with (or without) UNHS.

SETTING: Birth cohort of 100 000 in southern England.

PARTICIPANTS: 114 teenagers aged 13-19 years, 76 with PCHI and 38 with normal hearing. All had previously their reading assessed aged 6-10 years.

INTERVENTIONS: Birth in periods with and without UNHS; confirmation of PCHI before and after age 9 months.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Reading comprehension ability. Regression modelling took account of severity of hearing loss, non-verbal ability, maternal education and main language.

RESULTS: Confirmation of PCHI by age 9 months was associated with significantly higher mean z-scores for reading comprehension (adjusted mean difference 1.17, 95% CI 0.36 to 1.97) although birth during periods with UNHS was not (adjusted mean difference 0.15, 95% CI -0.75 to 1.06). The gap between the reading comprehension z-scores of teenagers with early compared with late confirmed PCHI had widened at an adjusted mean rate of 0.06 per year (95% CI -0.02 to 0.13) during the 9.2-year mean interval since the previous assessment.

CONCLUSIONS: The benefit to reading comprehension of confirmation of PCHI by age 9 months increases during the teenage years. This strengthens the case for UNHS programmes that lead to early confirmation of permanent hearing loss.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN03307358.