Targeted congenital cytomegalovirus screening as part of the newborn hearing screening programme in Northeast England

Neonates with congenital CMV (cCMV) with hearing loss at birth have improved hearing and developmental outcomes when treatment is started within the first 4 weeks of life. This report retrospectively evaluates the performance of a targeted diagnostic pathway for 'otherwise well' neonates who fail their newborn hearing screen. Approximately 10% of 'otherwise well' neonates who failed their newborn hearing screen and were subsequently diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss were identified as having cCMV, highlighting the pathway's diagnostic utility. Our findings do, however, identify a missed subgroup-infants with complex medical needs requiring prolonged neonatal hospital stays-who are often referred for audiology assessment too late for timely cCMV testing. These findings support the need to optimise early referral pathways to ensure that all at-risk neonates are offered diagnostic cCMV testing within the recommended time frame.