Pediatria pre prax 3/2018
Diagnostika sluchu novorodencov a malých detí – I. časť
Diagnostics of hearing of newborns and children − Part I Hearing screening in newborns and pre-school and school-age children in the Slovak Republic In the Slovak Republic a universal neonatal hearing screening has been obligatory since 2006 (short UNHS) based on the Professional guideline for early diagnostics of neonatal and children hearing problems by the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic No. 25940- 7/2005-OZS. This material follows the activities of the World Health Organization striving from 1955 for elaboration of national programmes for early detection of hearing problems in newborn children, children, as well as adults in the network of primary care. In 1998 the European Consensus Statement on Neonatal Hearing Screening was adopted in Milan. In 2011 a document entitled the European Consensus on Hearing Screening in pre-school and school-age children was approved in Warsaw. In the Slovak Republic the UNHS is carried out in neonatal departments through transient otoacoustic emissions. Thus obtained screening results are sent only by 2/3 of neonatal departments into the national register of children with impaired hearing run by the Paediatric ENT Department of the Medical Faculty of Comenius University and the National Institute of Children’s Diseases in Bratislava. As recommended by the chief expert of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic for otorhinolaryngology the children suspected of hearing problems should be examined in six specialized ENT departments responsible for further diagnostics and treatment of the confirmed hearing impairment in children. The feedback from these departments into the register is rare, thus the qualitative output of the UNHS is incomplete and many children seem to be lost in the system. The chief expert of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic and the chairwoman of the audiological section issued a recommendation for pre-school and school-age children in the Slovak Republic in 2016, which includes sending the children at the age of 5-6 years by the competent pediatrist to the competent ENT specialist. This document is legally non-binding. We are expecting some improvement in the situation in connection with updated national diagnostic and treatment procedures.
Keywords: hearing screening, newborns, pre-school and school-age, Slovak republic
