Regional differences of Turkey in risk factors of newborn hearing loss.

Objective: The aim of this study was to discover Turkish regional differences in the risk factors of newborn hearing loss.

Method: A multi-centered retrospective design was used. A total of 443 children, registered to the national newborn hearing screening programme, with bilateral hearing loss, from five different regions of Turkey, were evaluated in terms of the types of hearing loss, the degree of hearing loss, the types of risk factors, parental consanguinity, age at diagnosis and age of auditory intervention, respectively.

The development and organization of newborn screening programs in Turkey.

Background: Newborn screening tests have been designed to identify infants with severe disorders that are relatively prevalent and treatable or controllable. Comparing to other countries, the incidence of these diseases are very high in Turkey where the rate of consanguineous marriage is high.

Methods: In this article, it is aimed to evaluate the development and organization of newborn screening programs in Turkey which include phenylketonuria, congenital hypothyroidism and biotinidase deficiency screenings.

Features of unilateral hearing loss detected by newborn hearing screening programme in different regions of Turkey.

Objective: Newborn hearing screening (NHS) works well for babies with bilateral hearing loss. However, for those with unilateral loss, it has yet to be established some standard rules like age of diagnose, risk factors, hearing loss degree. The aim of this study is to identify the demographic characteristics of newborns with unilateral hearing loss to obtain evidence based data in order to see what to be done for children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL).

National newborn hearing screening program in Turkey: struggles and implementations between 2004 and 2008.

Objective: In this review, we have presented the data of our National Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NNHSP) with total 764,352 newborns those screened in last five years.

Methods: National Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NNHSP) has been conducted in Turkey since the year 2003. National Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NNHSP) had begun at the end of 2003 only in 1 center.