West Afr J Med. 2021 Feb;38(2):125-130.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The effect of hypertension on the vascular system leads to Target Organ Damage (TOD). The cochlea is one of the target organs affected by hypertension, giving rise to Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL).
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and pattern of Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) among hypertensives.
DESIGN: Case-Control Study.
SETTING: Tertiary hospital.
SUBJECTS: Two hundred and twenty six hypertensives, aged 21 to 60 years and a corresponding number of age and sex matched control.
METHODOLOGY: Eligible participants were prospectively evaluated. Their blood pressures were verified, hearing thresholds assessed through Pure Tone Audiometry, Pure Tone Average were calculated and the types and degree of hearing loss were confirmed. Data was analyzed using SPSS 21 and statistical significance was set at p-value 0.05.
RESULTS: Each group had 127 (56.19% ) females and 99 ( 43.81 % ) males. The difference in the mean age between the cases (40.02 ± 0.70years) and the controls (37.42 ± 0.47years) was not statistically significant (p = 0.542).The difference in the mean Pure Tone Average in dBHL between the cases (15.53± 6.95) and the controls (13.98 ± 4.35) was significant (p = 0.005) with a 12.83% prevalence of SNHL among the hypertensives against 1.77% in the controls. Majority (96.6 %) of them demonstrated bilateral, symmetrical, mild SNHL with 51.7% of them being above 50 years. The odds ratio in this study was 8.17 (p = 0.0001).
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a SNHL prevalence of 12.83% with a mild, bilateral, symmetrical pattern among hypertensives; increasing with advanced age and an eight-fold risk of occurrence.
PMID:33641146
