Our study aimed to evaluate the associations between COVID-19 infection and deterioration in sensorineural hearing thresholds among a cohort of patients from Meuhedet healthcare services (the third largest of four public healthcare provider organizations in Israel) that had undergone hearing evaluations pre- and post-COVID-19. Our findings suggest that COVID-19 does not appear to be associated with deterioration of the sensorineural hearing among unvaccinated patients who had known hearing loss pre-infection, after correcting for age-related hearing loss. Moreover, our findings do not validate previous reports of a greater deterioration in the hearing of infected patients who possess background risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and diabetes, suggesting no interaction between risk factors and hearing deterioration post-infection.
Objectives
Here, we aimed to (a) determine whether a clinically significant sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) change could be detected in post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) hearing levels on comparing them with pre-infection hearing levels after controlling for the effect of age and (b) to identify risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, and smoking, which increase the likelihood of hearing loss in COVID-19 patients.
Methods
We retrospectively analyzed hearing thresholds in unvaccinated patient's pre- and post-COVID-19 infection. Thresholds were controlled for age and the duration between the pre- and post-COVID-19 hearing evaluations. Correlations between additional COVID-19-related symptoms, hypertension, diabetes, and smoking and hearing threshold changes were analyzed.
Results
A significant (but not clinical) threshold elevation was found post-COVID-19 infection. However, on controlling for age and the duration between the pre- and post-COVID-19 hearing evaluations, no significant threshold elevation was found. No significant correlation was found between hearing threshold changes and additional COVID-19-related symptoms, hypertension, diabetes, or smoking.
Conclusion
COVID-19 did not lead to a significant hearing threshold elevation in our cohort, even among patients with additional COVID-19 symptoms, hypertension, or diabetes mellitus or among those who smoked.
Level of Evidence
3. nonrandomized controlled cohort, follow-up study Laryngoscope, 2022
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