Hearing and neurodevelopmental outcomes for children with asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection: A systematic review

Adam W Bartlett; Brendan McMullan; William D Rawlinson; Pamela Palasanthiran

doi:10.1002/rmv.1938

Hearing and neurodevelopmental outcomes for children with asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection: A systematic review

Rev Med Virol. 2017 Sep 6. doi: 10.1002/rmv.1938. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Adam W Bartlett^{1

2}, Brendan McMullan^{1

3}, William D Rawlinson^{4

5

6}, Pamela Palasanthiran^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Women's and Children's Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
² Biostatistics and Databases Program, The Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
³ Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Serology and Virology Division, SEALS Microbiology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
⁵ School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁶ School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 28876493
DOI: 10.1002/rmv.1938

Abstract

Introduction: Congenital CMV is one of the commonest congenital infections and a recognised cause of sensorineural hearing loss and neurodevelopmental impairment. Ninety percent are clinically inapparent at birth but are reported to be at risk of developing such abnormalities throughout childhood, the extent of which requires further elucidation.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted using Medline and Embase databases, manual citation review, and personal libraries for articles reporting primary data on hearing and neurodevelopmental outcomes for children with asymptomatic congenital CMV. PROSPERO registration number CRD42015025407.

Results: Thirty-seven of 480 articles identified between 1969 and 2016 met the eligibility criteria. Twenty-nine of these contributed primary data on hearing outcomes and 20 on neurodevelopmental outcomes (12 of the 37 studies contributed data on both). Cumulative incidence of sensorineural hearing loss with follow-up to at least 5 years was 7% to 11%, which is more than healthy controls but less than children with symptomatic congenital CMV (34%-41%). The onset, course, and severity of hearing loss was variable with no reliable virological prognostic marker. In comparison to controls, children with asymptomatic congenital CMV did not perform worse than controls in neurodevelopmental assessments and performed better than children with symptomatic congenital CMV.

Conclusions: Studies show children with asymptomatic congenital CMV are at increased risk of developing hearing loss but perform equally well on neurodevelopmental assessments when compared with healthy controls. There is no reliable virological marker to determine which infants will develop sequelae. Regular follow-up until school entry is supported by the literature.

Keywords: congenital CMV; hearing; neurodevelopment.

Publication types

Review