Monitoring COVID-19 in Belgian general practice: A tool for syndromic surveillance based on electronic health records.

Background: COVID-19 may initially manifest as flu-like symptoms. As such, general practitioners (GPs) will likely to play an important role in monitoring the pandemic through syndromic surveillance.

Objectives: To present a COVID-19 syndromic surveillance tool in Belgian general practices.

Trajectory of hearing loss in children with unilateral hearing loss.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to quantify the amount of deterioration in hearing and to document the trajectory of hearing loss in early identified children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL). We also examined whether clinical characteristics were associated with the likelihood of having progressive hearing loss.

Methods: As part of the Mild and Unilateral Hearing Loss Study, we followed a population-based cohort of 177 children diagnosed with UHL from 2003 to 2018.

Burden of COVID-19 on primary care in Belgium: a prospective nationwide observational study from March to August 2020.

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak had an important impact on general practice, for example the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the switch to telephone consultations. We installed a monitoring instrument and reported the burden the COVID-19 pandemic placed on Belgian general practitioners (GPs) during the first wave of the pandemic.

Methods: We conducted an observational longitudinal prospective study from the 19 of March until the 17 of August 2020.

Cytomegalovirus-A Risk Factor for Childhood Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review.

Objective: Permanent hearing loss is an important public health issue in children with consequences for language, social, and academic functioning. Early hearing detection, intervention, and monitoring are important in mitigating the impact of permanent childhood hearing loss. Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a leading cause of hearing loss.

Risk factors for hearing loss in children: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis protocol.

Background: Hearing loss in newborns and children is a public health concern, due to high prevalence and negative effects on their development. Early detection and intervention of childhood hearing loss may mitigate these negative effects. Population-based newborn hearing screening programs have been established worldwide to identify children at risk for congenital hearing loss and to follow children at risk for late onset or progressive hearing loss.

Improving early audiological intervention via newborn hearing screening in Belgium.

Background: Newborn hearing screening programs aim to lower the ages at audiological intervention among hearing-impaired children. In Wallonia and Brussels (Belgium), audiological intervention data are not collected in the screening program, and the ages at initiating audiological care have never been assessed. This study aimed to assess the evolution in the ages at initiating audiological intervention in the context of a newborn hearing screening program implementation.

Organisation of newborn hearing screening programmes in the European Union: widely implemented, differently performed.

Background: Implementation of newborn hearing screening programmes is widely recommended and programme organisational designs may differ in practice. The objective of this article was to establish an overview of the newborn hearing screening programmes in the 28 countries of the European Union on four topics (policy-decision, financing, general designs, organisational features).

Methods: National or regional programme coordinators completed an online self-administered questionnaire focusing on protocol description and programme organisation.

Newborn hearing screening programme in Belgium: a consensus recommendation on risk factors.

Background: Understanding the risk factors for hearing loss is essential for designing the Belgian newborn hearing screening programme. Accordingly, they needed to be updated in accordance with current scientific knowledge. This study aimed to update the recommendations for the clinical management and follow-up of newborns with neonatal risk factors of hearing loss for the newborn screening programme in Belgium.

Main outcomes of a newborn hearing screening program in Belgium over six years.

Objective: To present the outcomes of the newborn hearing screening program in Belgium (French-speaking area) since its implementation and to analyze its evolution between 2007 and 2012 in the neonatal population without reported risk factors for hearing loss.

Methods: The study was descriptive and based on a retrospective analysis of six annual databases (2007-2012) from the newborn hearing screening program. The main outcomes were identified: prevalence of reported hearing impairment; coverage rates (first and second test, follow-up); proportions of conclusive screening tests; referral rate.

Putting newborn hearing screening on the political agenda in Belgium: local initiatives toward a community programme - a qualitative study.

Background: The Kingdon model, based on the convergence of three streams (problem, policy, and politics) and the opening of a policy window, analyses the process by which a health issue is placed on the political agenda. We used this model to document the political agenda-setting process of the newborn hearing screening programme in Belgium.

Methods: A qualitative study based on a document review and on semi-directed interviews was carried out.