Evaluation of hearing in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Gunjan Dhasmana
Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, India
: J Otol Rhinol
Abstract
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a non-communicable, chronic metabolic disease with abnormal blood glucose levels caused by relative or absolute insulin deficiency. Long-standing diabetes can manifest a wide range of irreversible medical complications which can practically affect every organ of the body. Diabetes is an important etiological factor for hearing impairment. The relation between hearing loss and diabetes mellitus appears as a controversial topic as different studies have given conflicting results. Therefore we did an observational study to find out the status of hearing in diabetic patients. Audiological examination and Pure tone audiometry was done which revealed high frequency mild sensorineural hearing loss in majority of patients. Special hearing tests were also done to differentiate between cochlear and retro cochlear pathology. Significant association of hearing loss was seen with the severity of diabetes, but no association was found with the duration of diabetes. Thus we conclude that along with screening the diabetics for retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy, auditory screening should also be done. Timely detection of hearing loss may prevent further loss by controlling the sugar levels in the diabetics. Recent Publications 1. Srinivas C V, Shyamala V and Shiva Kumar B R (2016) Clinical study to evaluate the association between sensorineural hearing loss and diabetes mellitus in poorly controlled patients whose HbA1c> 8. Ind. J. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 68(2):191-5. 2. Kumari M S et al. (2016) Prevalence of otological disorders in diabetic cases with hearing loss. J. Diabetes. Metab. 7(4):666. 3. Yikawe S S et al. (2017) Effect of duration of diabetes mellitus on hearing threshold among type 2 diabetics. Indian Journal of Otology. 23(2):113-116. 4. Pathak N A, Rokade V V and Shinde KJ. Screening of auditory acuity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Indian Journal of Otology. 23(2):67-70.
Biography
Gunjan Dhasmana is currently pursuing her MS in ENT from Swami Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun, India. She successfully presented her work (poster presentation) on malignant ameloblastoma of the mandible and paper presentation on various foreign bodies encountered in ENT. Her recent research was on evaluation of hearing in type 2 diabetic patients. She is mainly interested in Head and Neck Oncology.
E-mail: sweet.sora@yahoo.co.in
