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

Abstract

Background: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disorder with a prevalence of 11.77%. Studies report that DM can result in Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). A high prevalence of Hearing loss (HL) (43.6%) in diabetics was noted in an Indian study. In absence of local studies and a high expected prevalence, with no screening recommendations, this study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) in Diabetes Mellitus DM in Southern Punjab. Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 310 diabetics, hailing from southern Punjab and fulfilling selection criteria were recruited. Samples were collected using probability sampling technique from September 2016 to December 2016. Following detailed history and examination, cases were subjected to pure tone audiometry (PTA) at 0.5 to 6 KHz to obtain hearing thresholds to determine the prevalence. Data was analyzed by SPSS 20. Results: Sample included N=310 diabetics with Mean age of 35.00 + 6.93 years with 58.39% males and 41.61% females. The prevalence of HL was 46.1%. Gender wise of the male population with HL, 27.97% and 28.67% had mild and moderate HL respectively with severe HL in 8.39% cases, while moderate HL was prevalent in females 20.98%, followed by mild HL in 9.97% and severe HL in 4.20%. There was significant correlation between Diabetes and SNHL with p-value < 0.05. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss in Diabetes mellitus.