Evasão das famílias ao processo de identificação e tratamento precoce da deficiência auditiva no Estado de Sergipe

Abstract

Introduction: The advent of Newborn Hearing Screening (NHS) in Brazil to provided to identify hearing loss in a larger number of children soon after birth. This has made it possible to carry out diagnosis and rehabilitation by means of sound amplification devices. However, there is still much lack of awareness among parents and guardians about the importance of concluding the TAN, the process of diagnosing hearing loss and rehabilitation in cases where there is a need to return to a "No pass" result. Objective: To verify the prevalence of evasion of parents and/or guardians to complete the Newborn Auditory Screening, to identify the main reasons for this, and to verify the auditory and language development in the current period of the children who did not adhere to the treatment. Method: This is a study with a quantitative approach, retrospective, cross-sectional and of analytical nature, developed by the Department of Speech Therapy of the Federal University of Sergipe and comprised the period from 2012 to 2020. Initially, data was collected from DATASUS about the neonates and the TANs performed in the state of Sergipe. Subsequently, through a retrospective analysis of medical records of patients who underwent TAN, a collection was made in loco at the two centers that perform TAN through the SUS in the state. Telephone interviews were also conducted with parents and/or guardians on issues related to the reasons for not returning to complete the care. Results: The evasion was 69.41%, calculated according to DATASUS data. In the data from the first institution it was possible to observe that, of the total of 3,469 records evaluated, 27.12% of the neonates did not undergo TAN before hospital discharge; of the 2,526 who did undergo the TAN, 0.16% were referred for retesting, and it was not possible to know if they returned to do it. Regarding the reasons for dropouts, 22 questionnaires were applied and the main complaints were: lack of guidance from professionals (22.72%) and lack of interest in the clinical test (4.55%). As for hearing and language development, most children showed no apparent changes. In the data from the second institution, the analysis of hearing screening dropout was evaluated according to the non-return for retesting and a dropout rate of 0.19% was found. Conclusion: The rate of TAN evasion is still very high, however, it is observed that when the test is performed in an outpatient setting, in a reference center for hearing health, there is a greater possibility of continuity of care to detect hearing loss early.