Prevalence and factors influencing sensorineural hearing loss among type II diabetes mellitus patients

Abstract

Background: The typical hearing loss described among diabetes patients is progressive, bilateral, sensorineural deafness of gradual onset that predominantly affects the higher frequencies. Although there is mounting evidence for a relationship between diabetes and hearing impairment the awareness of auditory organ involvement in the course of diabetes is still not widespread among healthcare providers involved in diabetes care. Objective of present study was to assess the prevalence and the factors influencing sensorineural deafness among the patients with type II diabetes mellitus.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at our hospital for a period of 6 months. All type II diabetes patients without any other major systemic illness (CVA, coronary artery disease, thyroid disorders) were included for the study. A total of 300 patients were included in our study and the informed consent was obtained from all the study participants. A detailed history related to hearing loss and diabetes status was elicited from all the patients. All basic blood investigations along with HbA1c was performed on all the patients. All the patients were subjected to pure tone audiometry and it was performed using a pure tone audiometer model AUL 12096 audiometer of Labat company in a sound proof room.Results: The total prevalence of sensori-neural deafness among the study subjects was found to be 51.3% with majority of them having mild to moderate degree of sensori-neural deafness. Increase in age, female gender, longer duration of diabetes and higher HbA1C levels are the factors which had influenced the state of sensorineural deafness among the study subjects.Conclusions: The use of audiological test at primary care level should be made mandate for screening all the diabetes patients for hearing loss such a way the quality of life can be improved for patients requiring therapeutic interventions for their hearing improvement.

Prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss among patients of diabetes mellitus in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

“…Of the n=310 diabetics enrolled in this study to determine the prevalence of SNHL in DM, a high prevalence of 46.1% (n=143) was noted. Similarly, a comparable prevalence of 43.6% has been reported by Pemmaiah & Srinivas [5], 45% by Mozaffari M et al in an Iranian study [9], and 45.31% by Gutierrez J et al [10] A much higher prevalence of 67.5% has been reported by Ren H et al [11] and 51.3% by Rajamani S et al [12] Horikawa et al [13], and Meena R et al [14] also reported a higher prevalence of HL in DM. A very low prevalence of 14.3% was reported by Trevi˜no-González et al [15] Kim et al reported in a cohort study that the incidence rate of HL in sample population with normal glucose levels and those with DM were 1.8 and 9.2 per 1000 person-years, respectively [16].…”

“…In the present study gender wise, in the male population, 27.97 % (n=40) and 28.67 % (n=41) were having mild and moderate HL respectively with only 8.39% (n=12) having severe HL, while in the females, moderate HL was prevalent with 20.98% (n=30), followed by mild HL 9.79% (n=14) and severe HL 4.2% (n=6) cases. With slight variation, Pemmaiah and Srinivas, found severe HL in 7 (6.36%) patients, moderately severe HL in 16 (14.54%) patients and moderate HL in 25 (22.7%) patients [5], while Rajamani S et al found mild to moderate HL in majority of cases [12]. Morrison CL et al reported mild HL in 14.3%, Moderate in 62.3% and severe HL in 19.5% with profound HL in 3.9% [17], while Trevi˜no-González reported mild Hl in 83.3%, moderate Hl in 16.4% cases [15].…”

“…In the current study results revealed that HL had significant relation to variables including age, complication of diabetes, medication dosage, duration of medication and family history of hearing loss, with p-value is less than 0.05. Similarly, a number of studies reported that age of onset [9,10,18], duration of DM [5,9,15], female gender [12], higher HbA1C level [12], diabetes control by insulin [18], DM with complications [18,19,20], disease severity [21], diabetic neuropathy [11], were associated with SNHL. Pemmaiah and Srinivas, found that in cases who had diabetes for more than 10 years, 61.7% showed at least mild HL and duration of DM and sensorineural hearing loss at 2000Hz and 4000Hz showed statistically significant correlation [5].…”

Clinical Asssessment of Sensorineural Hearing Loss among Diabetes Mellitus Patients

“…1-a). Highest numbers of SNHL cases (24) were observed in the group having diabetic history of 4-7 years; however, majority of SNHL cases (32) were observed in the group which did not have any family history of DM (Fig. 1-b II) Right mild with left min, right min and right min with left mild, respectively had 1 case each.…”

“…This study demonstrated the prevalence of 42.85% SNHL cases among 140 DM patients that was not in accordance with other studies, which showed varying degree of SNHL. 24,25 Rajamani et al reported the SNHL prevalence of 51.3%. 24 Conversely, a prospective study done by Harkare et al reported higher incidences (74.07%) of SNHL among DM patients.…”