sensorioneural hearing loss in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of and the type of the hearing loss in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA); and to analyze whether these hearing loss rates were different from control group or not.Materials and method: Fifty AS, 50 RA patients and 34 healthy controls presented to Dicle University Medical Faculty Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Department outpatient clinic were enrolled to this study. All three groups underwent ear, nose and throat physical examination, pure tone audiometric test between 250-8.000 Hz frequencies; stapes reflexes test and auto acoustic emission (OAE) tests.Results: The mean ages were 32,20 (18-55) years in AS cases, 36,88 (19-50) years in RA cases and 35,58 (20-50) years in control group. The mean disease duration were 5.27 (0-22) years in AS patients with and 4.72 (2-21) years in patiens with RA. Hearing loss was detected in 7 (%14) of the AS patients, 10 (%20) of the RA patiens and 3 (%8.8) of the control group. The sensorioneural hearing loss was the most commonly detected hearing loss type. The distribution of this type of hearing loss was 10 % in AS, 14% in RA and 8.8% in control group. Hearing loss was present in 6 (85.7%) of the 7 RA patients and 2 (28.5%) of the 7 AS patients whose duration of the disease were more than 10 years.Conclusion: There is no significant difference between AS, RA and control group with respect to hearing loss. Being more common in RA cases, the rate of hearing loss was increasing with the increase in duration of the diseases.Key words: Ankylosing spondylitis, Rheumatoid arthritis, disease duration, hearing loss.