A Hospital Based Prospective Study for Assessment of Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) in Type-II Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is an increasing health problem worldwide and the prevalence is steadily increasing. The organ of corti cells are important structures for hearing mechanism and turn out to be the potential target for damage, due to high glycemic levels, micro vascular compromise, their complex structure and arrangement. Thus, screening of these patients at a higher risk of developing sensory neural hearing loss, will aid in early diagnosis and management. The aim of this study to assess the sensorineural hearing loss in diabetes mellitus type II patients. Materials& Methods: This is a prospective study in which evaluation of 50 patients who were diagnosed with diabetes mellitus undergoing treatment on Out–Patient or In-Patient basis in department of E.N.T and Medicine at RVRS Medical College, Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India. All the patients were taken up for Otoscopic examination, in which the ear canal and status of tympanic membrane were assessed. Assessment of hearing loss in these patients is done using PTA. In this method, they are exposed to pure tones, the intensity of which can be increased or decreased in 5 dB steps. The amount of intensity that has to be raised above the normal level is a measure of the degree of hearing impairment at that frequency. Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) Trial Version 24.0 Significant level was p ≤ 0.05. Results:The present study showed that mean age of patients was 56.43 years & male to female ratio was 1.5:1. The mean duration of diabetes was 12.36 years,the distribution among the study sample showed majority among ≤15years duration of diabetes mellitus at 72% (36 out of 50) and shows significance among PTA results of hearing loss degree with P-value <0.01. Conclusion: Hearing loss observed in diabetics is mostly bilaterally symmetrical, progressive, ranging from mild to severe.