Risk of hearing alterations in newborns of mothers treated for malaria.

INTRODUCTION The antimalarial drugs can cause irreversible sensorineural hearing loss, and chloroquine phosphate use can be ototoxic to the fetus. OBJECTIVE To compare the results of hearing screening in newborns of mothers treated for malaria in pregnancy with the results of newborns of mothers untreated and check for increased risk of hearing alterations in the group exposed to treatment. METHOD Retrospective cohort study which involved 284 infants, 30 in the exposed group to malaria treatment and 254 in the unexposed group, matched for gestational age, birth weight and risk indicators for hearing. They underwent hearing screening by means of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions and/or auditory brainstem response automatic. The variables were collected in an interview with the parents in the health record and the screening database. RESULTS The prevalence of fail in exposed group (6.7%) was significant when compared with the unexposed group (1.2%). The risk of failing in the hearing screening in the exposed group was 5.64 (CI 1.17 to 27.3). CONCLUSION Newborns of mothers treated for malaria in pregnancy had a prevalence of fail in hearing screening at 6.7% and 5.64 higher chances to fail than newborns of untreated mothers.