Auditory Pathway Maturation in Full-term Small for Gestational Age Children: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis

Introduction Factors of intrauterine growth restriction have been responsible for the births of full-term babies small for their gestational age (SGA). Scientific evidence points that this restriction can cause changes in the neural maturation process. Objectives To analyze the absolute latencies and interpeak intervals of brainstem auditory evoked potential waves in full-term and SGA children to investigate whether there are changes of neural maturation in this population. Data Synthesis The search for articles that reported the assessment of brainstem auditory evoked potential in SGA newborns compared with a control, appropriate for their gestational age, both born full-term, for the entire period available in the database research until October 31, 2021 was performed based on the MEDLINE/PubMed Central and on the Latin America and the Caribbean Health Sciences Literature and Virtual Health Library electronic databases. A total of 311 studies were found in the database research. Out of this total, 10 studies were included in the review, 5 of which were eligible for the meta-analysis, involving a total of 473 participants of both genders, with 193 participants belonging to the study group and 280 to the control group. Differences between the groups were only observed in the absolute latency of wave V (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.02–0.15; p < 0.01). Conclusion The SGA condition is responsible for the appearance of brainstem neural conduction dysfunction measured by the brainstem auditory evoked potentials, probably by the maturation process of the auditory pathway of this population.