In Spain, all the autonomous communities have programs for early detection of child deafness, although the negative part of the matter is that it cannot be applied in the same proportion, when it should be a universal test.
The best prevention is early diagnosis and, to be effective, it should be carried out during the first half of the child's life. While in some regions 95% of newborns benefit from this test, in others, only 50%.
The situation is very unequal, with great differences between autonomies and even between hospitals in the same community. Madrid, Andalusia and Catalonia are the areas that are most backward in regards to the application of hearing loss detection programs.
The explanation for this delay is due, in part, to the lack of resources to adequately serve a growing population.
These data have been released at the 59th National Congress of the Spanish Society of Otolaryngology and Facial Cervical Pathology (SEORL PCF), which is being held these days in Tarragona.
Within this framework, it has been pointed out that the ideal objective towards which one is walking is to unify, for all communities, the early detection during the first month of life through universal screening, access to the diagnostic phase at 3 months or before, treatment established at 6 months and follow-up of all cases detected.
No doubt some actions necessary to get detect and treat hearing loss in time of any grade, which can occur in 5 out of every 1,000 newborns
