PURPOSE: To describe demographic and socioeconomic aspects of mothers of newborns and infants enrolled in the Newborn Hearing Screening Program of the Hospital of the Federal University of Pernambuco. METHODS: Data were gathered from the database of the Newborn Hearing Screening Program. Participated in the study 1,193 mothers who delivered babies in 2007. RESULTS: Analysis of the demographic variables showed that most mothers were between 20 and 29 years old (47.9%), and 69.2% were married. Socioeconomic variables showed that 36.1% of the mothers did not complete elementary school, 55.7% were housewives, 38.6% did not have any personal income, 60.6% had familiar income between one and three minimum wages, and 92.5% gave birth in public maternities. CONCLUSION: The studied population was considered in unfavorable conditions for the health and the global development of newborns and infants, for pregnant women within the same socioeconomic status constitute a risk category. These results emphasize the need for the development of health promotion actions for the investigated population.
Neonatal screening; Infant; Hearing; Hearing loss; Socioeconomic factors; Population characteristics; Risk index
