Correlation of body mass index with pure tone average values in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Background: Assessment of hearing is important to know the type, extent of hearing impairment in diabetics which helps to take decisions on rehabilitative and preventive measures. Objectives: Present study is focused on relationship between body mass index (BMI) with pure tone average (PTA) values in type 2 diabetics. Materials and methods: Type 2 diabetic patients with (WHI) and without (WoHI) hearing impairment, both the gender was included with age limit between 35-55 years and also ten normal subjects were included as controls. Pure tone average (PTA) is the average of hearing threshold levels at the frequencies 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz and 4000Hz. This value gives information about an individual’s hearing level in each ear. Statistical analysis: All the data were expressed as mean ± SE. The mean were analyzed by one way ANOVA. Pearson correlation test was done to see the relationship between right and left ear PTA values in normal subjects, WoHI and WHI groups with BMI values. Results: The right ear of WoHI (P= 0.716) and WHI (P=0.474) group and left ear of WHI (P=0.399) group shows negative correlation with BMI. Conclusion: The PTA is useful to know the status of hearing sensitivity and type, severity of the hearing impairment in the T2DM patients. The BMI values are correlated with PTA values in all subjects.