Jasneet Kaur Sodhi1, Vanita Sarin2, Manish Chandey3 1,
BACKGROUND
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) encloses a continuum of pathophysiological
processes associated with deranged kidney function and a progressive decrease
in glomerular filtration rate (GFR). There are many anatomic similitudes between
cochlea and kidney at an ultra-structural level and antigenic level along with
comparable physiological mechanisms, specifically, the active fluid and electrolytes
transport in the cochlea and the kidney. The purpose of the present study was to
determine the proportion, type and degree of hearing loss in patients with renal
disease and its comparison according to the stage of CKD.
METHODS
The study was conducted on 60 patients of chronic kidney disease labelled as
stage 3, 4 and 5 on the basis of GFR. An audiogram charted by pure tone
audiometry was used to find the degree of hearing loss and its comparison in
patients with moderate, severe and end stage CKD was done. The data was
collected and analysed statistically.
RESULTS
The mean age of patients was 55.58 +/- 11.36 years and the mean duration of
CKD was 15.61 months. 90 % patients of CKD had sensorineural hearing loss while
10 % had hearing sensitivity within normal limits. In the present study, mild
degree hearing loss and high frequency hearing loss was found to be predominant
constituting 68.3 % (n = 41) and 58.3 % (n = 35) respectively. Mild degree of
hearing loss was a predominant finding irrespective of the stage and duration of
CKD.
CONCLUSIONS
Sensorineural hearing loss was found predominantly amongst the CKD patients in
our study population. Mild degree hearing loss was predominant but there was no
correlation between stage of CKD and degree of hearing loss. While there was a
significant correlation between degree of hearing loss with duration and
haemodialysis amongst the non-diabetic CKD patients.
