Evaluation of the incidence of sensorineural hearing loss in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to find out the incidence of hearing loss in diabetes mellitus among the type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Methods: A study was done with sixty type 2 diabetes mellitus patients of age 40-50 years attending the diabetic OP, Stanley Medical College, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. The control group was sixty non diabetic people matched with age and sex, attending the master health check up scheme and medicine out patient department. All the patients were subjected to the following tests such as fasting, postprandial blood sugar, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) and audiometry. Results: The number of people affected with sensorineural deafness among the diabetics is 73.3% when compared to that of the controls 6.7%, which is highly significant (P = 0.001). The audiograms of the diabetics were suggestive of mild to moderate sensorineural deafness and the hearing loss was more towards the higher frequencies. Conclusion: The diabetic subjects showed significant high frequency, bilateral, mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss (73.3%) as compared to controls of similar age. The glycemic status and duration of diabetes have no significant correlation with hearing loss and both the sexes were equally affected.