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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Kenneth D. Rosenberg, MD, MPH1, Alfredo P. Sandoval, MS, MBA1, and Tina Kent2. (1) Office of Family Health, Oregon Division of Human Services, 800 NE Oregon Street, Suite 850, Portland, OR 97232, 503-731-4507, ken.d.rosenberg@state.or.us, (2) Center for Health Statistics, Oregon Division of Human Services, 800 NE Oregon Street, Suite 225, Portland, OR 97232
INTRODUCTION: Newborn hearing screening (NHS) is an important procedure to detect deafness; it is the first step in getting infants with hearing loss into early intervention. A state law mandating NHS was passed by the Oregon legislature in 1999 and went into effect July 1, 2000. We estimated the increase in NHS associated with the new legislation.
METHODS: The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a stratified random survey of postpartum women. Starting in May 2000, Oregon PRAMS respondents were asked whether their baby got a hearing screening test in the hospital. The analysis was done using unweighted data.
RESULTS: The question was answered by 564 women. The responses were categorized according to child's date of birth. We found that the proportion of newborns receiving NHS increased from 61% (March 2000) to 72% (May 2000) to 95% (July 2000, when the law went into effect). The proportion has averaged over 95% since then (through May 2001).
DISCUSSION: A law mandating NHS by hospitals can dramatically increase the proportion of newborns receiving NHS. The proportion of newborns who received NHS increased shortly before the law took effect. Over 95% of newborns have been getting NHS since the law went into effect.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Surveillance, Legislative
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.