Pregnancy and otosclerosis

Abstract

A retrospective study has been made of a sample of 479 women with deafness from otosclerosis, classified according to the number of pregnancies they have had and whether there had been a subjective impression of deterioration of hearing during or immediately after at least 1 pregnancy. The study confirms previous reports that pregnancy does involve a risk of aggravating deafness in clinical otosclerosis. The chance of female patients with bilateral otosclerosis reporting a subjective deterioration of hearing in pregnancy can be accurately described by a simple mathematical model and varies from about 33% after 1 pregnancy to about 63% after 6 pregnancies. In women with unilateral otosclerosis pregnancy-related deterioration of hearing is much less commonly perceived. There is no strong evidence that pregnancies cause any alteration to the actual footplate pathology of female patients.