The Affect On Hearing In Children With Symptomatic Cytomegalovirus Infection

Objective To investigate the incidence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in children with symptomatic cytomegalovirus infection, the relevance between result of the brain stem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) and the clinical features. Methods (1) The brain stem auditory evoked potential of 40 infants with CMV infection were studied retrospectively. (2) The relevance of serum DBIL, UDBIL, ALT, serum CMV -IgM, urine CMV- DNA, PLT, HGB and the size of liver and spleen, CMV pneumonia, prematurity with the result of BAEP was analyzed. Result The incidence of SNHL in children with symptomatic cytomegalovirus infection is higher than noninfection (82.5%), majority of them was associated with hepatosplenomegaly (77.5%), pneumonia (35%). Patients with congential infection tended to have deformity (32.5%) blood system damage (15%), prematurity (12.5%), biliary tract obstruction (10%), seizures (10%). and sometimes combine with opportunistic infection (7.5%). There are notable difference in urine CMV-DNA titers between normal hearing and abnormal hearing children with symptomatic cytomegalovirus infection (P<0.05). Conclusion Infant cytomegalovirus infection is one of the leading non-genetic causes of SNHL in children. The children with urine CMV-DNA titers higher than 104 copies /ml should be suspected SNHL. The hearing of all the children with CMV infection should be evaluated. BAEP is a kind of sensitive, harmless method. It can find hearing damage by CMV infection in early stage, which is worth to be popularized.