Brainstem auditory-evoked potentials in iron-deficiency anemia.

Slight-to-moderate impairments may be observed in mental and motor developments of infants with iron- deficiency anemia. Brainstem auditory-evoked potentials provide a noninvasive means of examining the auditory aspect of the central nervous system functions. In this study the effect of iron-deficiency anemia on auditory functions was investigated by using brainstem auditory-evoked potentials. Brainstem auditory-evoked potentials of the 20 iron-deficient infants were not significantly different from those of the control group that included 20 healthy age-matched infants. Furthermore, there was not a statistically significant difference between the brainstem auditory-evoked potentials of the study group performed before and 3 months after oral iron therapy. Although we could not demonstrate a hearing loss in infants with moderate iron-deficiency anemia in this study, the relationship between severe iron-deficiency anemia and hearing loss or auditory dysfunction remains to be determined.