Ulcerative colitis may be a risk factor for sensorineural hearing loss

Abstract

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, idiopathic, relapsing, inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal system, which includes two different diseases, namely ulcerative colitis (UC), and Crohn's disease (CD). Inner ear involvement of IBD, which causes sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is acute and bilateral and arises in a short period of weeks to months in the active period of the disease. Methods: The present study included 53 IBD patients and 20 healthy control patients who were followed up in the gastroenterology outpatient clinic of Abant Izzet Baysal University Hospital between January and May 2020 and accepted to participate in the study. Tympanometry, otoscopy, and audiometry examinations were performed. Results: There was no significant difference in terms of gender and age between the IBD and control groups. While there was no significant difference in air and bone conduction in both ears in patients with CD, there was a significant difference between both conductions in UC (p: 0.0001 in the left ear, p: 0.004 in the right ear). SNHL was detected in 45.2% (n:14) of UC patients and 13.6% (n:3) of CD patients in audiometry. Three of our UC patients had moderate, one had moderately severe, and one had profound hearing loss. Conclusion: SNHL has been detected in a significant number of UC patients. Also, the hearing functions deteriorate significantly as the age of the patients and the duration of the disease increases. It should be recommended to evaluate UC patients over 40 years of age and with the long-term disease for SNHL.

Keywords

• Sensorineural hearing loss
• Ulcerative colitis,
• Crohn’s Disease,
• Audiometry

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