Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in term newborn infants with severe hyperbilirubinemia

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of severe hyperbilirubinemia on vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP). Methods: A prospective study was designed. Seventeen term infants who suffered from severe hyperbilirubinemia in the first 5 postnatal days of age were included in the study group. The control group consisted of 17 healthy term infants. Audiological evaluation was performed, including tympanometry and transient evoked otoacoustic emissions, and VEMP tests. Results: All newborns passed audiological evaluation. Biphasic waveforms of VEMP were obtained in all of the 34 infants who had been tested. Both latencies of p13 and n23 were significantly delayed in the severe hyperbilirubinemia group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This pilot is the first study to show that severe hyperbilirubinemia causes delay in VEMP latencies. We suggest that severe hyperbilirubinemia might affect the vestibular nuclei or the integrity of the inferior vestibular nerve and vestibulospinal tract. Further studies need to explain the relation between hyperbilirubinemia and the vestibular system.