Congenital anomalies identified during early childhood in NICU infants with bilateral hearing loss: a multi-centre longitudinal cohort study.

At birth, results indicate there was no significant difference in congenital anomaly prevalence between infants with bilateral hearing loss and matched controls (Mantel-Haenszel χ 2 = 1.17, p = 0.28; OR 1.47, 95% CI 0.80-2.71).

Differences were most pronounced in abnormalities of the nervous system.

In multivariable models, bilateral hearing loss was associated with substantially increased odds of moderate-to-severe neurodevelopmental impairment (OR 13.89, p < 0.001), with additional contributions from congenital anomalies (OR 2.57, p = 0.023).