2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
2/28/2017 | 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM | Infertility Treatment and Permanent Hearing Loss Among Massachusetts Singleton Births | Hanover D
Infertility Treatment and Permanent Hearing Loss Among Massachusetts Singleton Births
The epidemiology of infant hearing loss is not completely understood. The Massachusetts Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program (UNHSP) directs toward diagnostic audiological evaluation babies who refer on newborn hearing screening, as well as those with a variety of possible hearing loss risk factors. However, there is concern that some of this effort might be misplaced, and that other factors may pose equal or greater risk. Infertility treatments have been linked in studies to neurological birth defects, raising the hypothesis that some of these treatments might cause sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), but not conductive-only hearing loss (CHL), in infants. We tested this hypothesis by using multiple logistic regression analysis controlled for maternal age, paternal age, gestational age, maternal education, and maternal smoking to assess associations between three infertility treatments and SNHL and CHL among 296,609 singletons born in Massachusetts between 2011 and 2015. Except for the hearing data, data were abstracted from the electronic birth certificate, which is linked to the UNHSP database. Hearing status classification was based on results of newborn hearing screening and follow-up audiological testing of babies who did not pass. Multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (OR) and associated 95% confidence intervals (CI) revealed statistically significant associations between any infertility treatment (n=9,625, OR=1.6, 95% CI=1.1-2.4), artificial or intrauterine insemination (n=1,153, OR=2.3, 95% CI=1.0-5.1), and fertility-enhancing drugs (n=3,361, OR=2.8, 95% CI=1.6-4.6), but not Assisted Reproductive Technology (n=7,230, OR=1.5, 95% CI=0.9-2.3), and SNHL. No treatments were associated with CHL. Furthermore, when a term for fertility-enhancing drugs was added to the models assessing associations between the other treatments and SNHL, the association between fertility-enhancing drugs and SNHL remained strong and significant, while the associations between the other treatments and SNHL became extremely weak and statistically non-significant. We conclude that conception assisted by fertility-enhancing drugs may be a risk factor for SNHL in infants.
- Understand the potential adverse effects on sensorineural and conductive hearing loss of conception assisted by infertility treatments
- Understand the role that fertility-enhancing drugs play in associations between various infertility treatments and sensorineural hearing loss in infants
- Understand the degree to which the odds of sensorineural hearing loss is increased in infants conceived through use of fertility drugs independently of other hearing loss risk factors
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Presenters/Authors
Janet Farrell
(), Department of Public Health, janet.farrell@state.ma.us;
Janet Farrell is the Program Director for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program. She is also the project director for two federal grants related to the program she oversees. She has over twenty-five years experience implementing and overseeing public health programs. Her passion is ensuring young children with hearing loss are identified early and receive appropriate services. She has a strong interest in data/research and has published articles on newborn hearing screening and related topics.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Martha Morris
(), Massachusetts Department of Public Health, martha.morris@massmail.state.ma.us;
Since 2014, Dr. Morris has served as the epidemiologist for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program. She is also the Principal Investigator of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cooperative Agreement. She holds a PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has worked as an epidemiologist for more than 30 years. She recently returned to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where her career began, from Tufts University, where her research focused on nutrition and aging.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Hafsatou Diop
(), Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Hafsatou.Diop@MassMail.State.MA.US;
Dr. Hafsatou Diop, MD, MPH, directs the Office of Data Translation at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and the Massachusetts Pregnancy to Early Life Longitudinal (PELL) project. She serves as the State Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Epidemiologist and the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) Project Director and is the Principal Investigator of the Massachusetts Perinatal and Neonatal Quality Collaborative, which was funded by CDC in 2014. Dr. Diop received her medical degree from the University of Conakry School of Medicine and Pharmacy (Guinea) in 1990. She completed her residency in OB/GYN at the Donka teaching Hospital in Guinea in 1992 and worked as a medical officer in charge of the surveillance of pregnant women in Guinea from 1992 to 1995, after which she served as the Director of Primary Health Care in the District of Dubreka, Guinea, from until 1997. In 1996, she completed the 21st International Course of Epidemiology at the Center for Research (INSERM) in Paris and did her field practicum at the Head Quarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Diop received her Masters of Public Health degree with concentration in MCH in 2000 from the University of Honolulu, Hawaii. Prior to joining the MDPH, Dr. Diop worked at Boston Medical Center, where she participated in the medical care of immigrants from 2000 to 2002. From 2002-2004, she served as Assistant Director for a private OB/GYN Office in Boston caring for women of all ages.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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Nonfinancial -