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A June study by the National Institutes of Health has concluded that children exposed to HIV in the womb are at increased risk for hearing loss.

The study was published online in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

According to researchers, children exposed to HIV in the womb may be more likely to experience hearing loss by age 16 than are their unexposed peers.

"Children exposed to HIV before birth are at higher risk for hearing difficulty, and it's important for them-and the health providers who care for them-to be aware of this," said George K. Siberry, of the Pediatric, Adolescent, and Maternal AIDS Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

More than 200 children and teenagers between the ages of 9 and 15 participated. All had been exposed to HIV before birth, and about 60 percent were HIV-positive at the time of the study. Researchers conducted hearing tests on the children if their parents or caregivers had reported hearing problems, they had low scores on a standard test of language or their health care providers detected hearing problems during standard hearing screenings.

According to researchers, children with HIV infection were about 200 to 300 percent more likely to have a hearing loss. Children whose mothers had HIV during pregnancy but who themselves were born without HIV were 20 percent more likely than to have hearing loss.

"If parents and teachers know the child has a hearing problem, then they may take measures to compensate in various communication settings, such as placement in the front of the classroom or avoiding noisy settings," said Howard Hoffman, director of the Epidemiology and Statistics Program at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.