Page 49 - JCTR-11-4

Journal of Clinical and
Translational Research Female are better in otoacoustic emissions tests

A newborn with a normal bilateral response was accepted as Table 1. Otoacoustic emissions of the general population
a “pass.” Otherwise, the result was recorded as a “fail”. 8,9
Transient evoked otoacoustic Gender Total
2.4. Statistical analysis emissions Female Male

The dependent variable is the TEOAE result before Altered otoacoustic emissions 792 970 1,762
discharge (pass/refer). The independent explanatory Normal otoacoustic emissions 10,379 10,482 20,861
variable was the infant’s sex as documented in the medical Total 11,171 11,452 22,623
notes. After computing basic frequency distributions, we Pearson’s Chi-square Value Log Significance
examined the association between TEOAE outcome and (two-sided)
each study variable with a Chisquare test. Only cases with 15.002 1 0.000
complete data for the variable in question (sex or twin
birth) and the corresponding TEOAE result were included. 2
Statistical significance was defined as p<0.05. The data were the association was highly significant (χ , p<0.0001). To
analyzed using 2016 Microsoft Excel and the Statistical control for this confounding variable, a separate analysis
Package for Social Sciences version 22. was conducted on the group of exclusively formula-
fed infants (6,313 cases), which also demonstrated a
3. Results statistically significant association between sex and test
outcome (p<0.041). These findings confirm that the
The total sample consisted of 22,825 newborns, of which observed sex-based difference in OAE responses remains
11,265 were female and 11,560 were male (50.6%). Only significant, with females demonstrating better responses to
0.4% had an Apgar score <5 at 1 min, and only four cases the test regardless of feeding types.
(0.01%) had an Apgar score <5 at 5 min. Gestational age
ranged from a minimum of 33 weeks (only 20 [0.09%] 3.1. Twin study
cases below 34 weeks) – 42 weeks. When stratified by sex, Among the global data of 22,825 newborns, 586 cases were
no significant differences were observed between male and twin pregnancies (2.6%). Data were obtained from 254
female newborns in terms of minimum gestational age pairs of twin newborns (n=508), of which 256 were female
(33 weeks) or maximum gestational age (42 weeks). The (50.4%) and 252 were males (49.6%). A total of 73.7% were
mean gestational age was 39.19 weeks for both groups.
The standard deviation was 1.35 for males and 1.32 for born through cesarean section. The minimum Apgar score
females. The third percentile was 36 weeks for both, and at 1 min was two (only 2 cases=0.4%), with the remainder
the 97 percentile was 41 weeks for both. scoring above five. At 5 min, the minimum Apgar score
th
was eight (in one case), with the rest scoring nine or 10.
Birth weights ranged from 1,500 g to 6,150 g, with 4% Maternal breastfeeding was given to 51.9% of the twins.
of the samples weighing <2,500 g. When analyzed by sex, Altered OAEs were detected in 7.5% of cases (n=38) during
there were also no significant differences in birth weight, their stay in the maternity unit.
with a minimum value of 1,500 g for females and 1,630 g
for males. The maximum value was 6,150 g for females and The cross-tabulation between gender and OAE outcomes
5,510 g for males. The mean birth weight was 3,361.71 g for in the global twin group did not yield statistically significant
males and 3,238.56 g for females. The third percentile of results in any of its variations (p>0.05), questioning the
birth weight was 2,410 g for females and 2,465 g for males. effect of gender in this group of newborns (Table 2).
There were also no significant differences in the type 3.2. Analysis of formula-fed twins
of delivery, with 28% cesarean sections among males and When analyzing only newborns exclusively fed with
26.9% among females. In 7.8% of cases, altered OAEs were formula (to eliminate the influence of breastfeeding), a
detected during their stay in the maternity unit, while group of 244 neonates was obtained. The results were not
92.2% showed normal results at discharge. The global study statistically significant, with a Chi-square p=0.308 and a
group included 22,623 newborns with known gender and Fisher’s exact test p=0.415 when comparing gender and
OAE outcomes. A highly significant difference (p<0.0001) OAE outcomes.
was observed in favor of females, who demonstrated better
responses to the neonatal hearing screening test (Table 1). 3.3. Further analysis of twins

A total of 28.2% were fed with artificial formula, while When differentiating between same-sex and different-sex
71.8% received maternal or mixed breastfeeding. Maternal twin pairs, two separate groups can be analyzed as shown
breastfeeding is a well-established factor associated with in Figure 1. However, in neither group was a significant
higher response rates in the OAE test; in this subgroup, difference evident.

Volume 11 Issue 4 (2025) 43 doi: 10.36922/jctr.8416