Effect of Chronic Gout on Hearing: A Prospective Study

Background: Recent reports showed significant associations between chronic gout and progressive hearing impairment, especially among elderly. Aim: To assess the associating between chronic gout and hearing loss and the correlation between uric acid levels and different degrees of hearing impairments. Subjects and Methods: A prospective, comparative, study was conducted from January 2014 to January 2016 at the Audiology unit of the ENT department, Al-Zahraa University hospital. Patients with chronic gout and age and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. We used pure tone and speech audiometry and immitancemetry in order to evaluate the hearing impairment among all participants. Results: The present study included 20 patients with chronic gout and a similar number of healthy controls. The analysis showed that patients with gout had statistically significant higher pure tone audiometry threshold of the left (p <0.001) and right ears (p <0.001). The threshold was higher in both ear at the level of 1000 to 8000 Hz. The percentage of patients with bilateral failed Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) was significantly higher in gout group (50% versus 0%, p <0.001). The band response of TEOAE from 1500Hz to 4000Hz was significantly higher in gouty patients as well (p <0.001). There was statistically significant positive correlations between pure tone, speech audiometry, and TEOAE with gout duration and uric acid levels (p <0.05). Conclusions: In conclusion, patients with chronic gout had significantly higher risks of high frequency sensorineural hearing loss, as evident by pure tone audiometry and TEOAEs, than age and sex-matched healthy population.