Effect of Antenatal Dexamethasone Therapy on Hearing Screening in Premature Infants: A Retrospective Case-control Study

Purpose: Hearing impairment has a great impact on children's auditory language development, which causes serious socio-economic burden. Existing data showed the effect of antenatal dexamethasone treatment on hearing of premature infants is controversial, which may be caused by different treatment courses. Therefore, this study explored the effects of different courses of antenatal dexamethasone treatment on hearing of premature infants.

Method: All premature infants born in West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University from 2018 to 2020 with abnormal hearing screening were included. We matched premature infants who passed the hearing screening according to the gestational age (±1 week) at a ratio of 1:1. Antenatal dexamethasone information, hearing screening results, and postnatal diagnosis related to hearing were available.

Results: A total of 299 premature infants failed hearing screening. In the final logistic model, antenatal use of 4 doses of dexamethasone reduced the hearing screening failure rate of premature infants (OR 0.39; 95 % CI: 0.22-0.69). Excessive exposure (OR 1.01; 95 % CI: 0.45-2.23) and incomplete exposure (OR 1.03; 95 % CI: 0.59-1.80) had no effect on the hearing screening of premature infants.

Conclusion: Antenatal dexamethasone therapy has a dose-dependent protective effect on hearing loss in premature infants.