Hearing loss can also be seen in patients with nonradiographic axial spondyloarthropathies as well as radiographic axial spondyloarthropathies
Hanife Çağlar Yağcı1
, İlker Yağcı2, Osman İlkay Özdamar3, Cansu Tosyalı Salman4, Özlem Ertuğrul4
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Göztepe Prof. Dr. Süleyman Yalçın City Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye
2Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Türkiye
3Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Göztepe Prof. Dr. Süleyman Yalçın City Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye
4Department of Audiology, Göztepe Prof. Dr. Süleyman Yalçın City Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye
Keywords: Axial spondylarthritis, hearing loss, pure tone audiometry.
Abstract
Objectives: Hearing loss has been described in patients with radiographic axial spondyloarthropathies (R-AxSpA) but has not been studied in patients with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthropathies (NR-AxSpA); accordingly, the aim of the study was to compare hearing loss in patients with NR-AxSpA, R-AxSpA, and healthy individuals.
Patients and methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted with 68 participants (30 males, 38 females; mean age: 39.8±7.4 years) between March 2021 and March 2022. Of the participants, 16 were patients with NR-AxSpA, 15 were patients with R-AxSpA, and 37 were healthy controls. Disease activity and radiological and audiological features were analyzed. The audiological assessment included pure-tone audiometric tests at octave frequencies of 250 to 8000 Hz and transient evoked otoacoustic emissions.
Results: Hearing loss was found in three (8%) in the healthy group, five (31.3%) in the NR-AxSpA group, and 10 (66.7%) in the R-AxSpA group. The chi-square analysis showed a statistical significance (p=0.001). Values of audiometric tests yielded significant differences between the control and R-AxSpA group and also the control and NR-AxSpA group. For the air conduction studies, the statistical significance began at 1000 Hz in the R-AxSpA group. It was found that in the NR-AxSpA group, the statistical difference started in higher frequencies. The bone conduction audiometric studies were similar to air conduction studies. Transient evoked otoacoustic emission studies showed that the R-AxSpA group was significantly affected compared to the control and NR-AxSpA groups. There was no statistical difference between the control and NR-AxSpA groups.
Conclusion: Both NR-AxSpA and R-AxSpA patients had hearing loss; however, in pure-tone audiometric tests, the abnormalities began in lower frequencies in the R-AxSpA group than in the NR-AxSpA group.
Citation: Çağlar Yağcı H, Yağcı İ, Özdamar Oİ, Tosyalı Salman C, Ertuğrul Ö. Hearing loss can also be seen in patients with nonradiographic axial spondyloarthropathies as well as radiographic axial spondyloarthropathies. Arch Rheumatol 2023;38(2):257-266. doi: 10.46497/ArchRheumatol.2023.10186.
The study protocol was approved by the SB Istanbul Medeniyet University Ethics Committee (date: 24.02.2021, no: 2021/0156). The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
A written informed consent was obtained from each patient.
Concept: H.C.Y., O.I.O.; Design: I.Y.; Data collection: C.T.S., O.E.; Analysis and/or interpretation: I.Y.; Literature review: I.Y., H.C.Y., O.I.O.; Writing: H.C.Y., I.Y.; Critical review: O.I.O.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.