RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISEASE ACTIVITY AND HEARING IMPAIRMENT IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Objectives:To compare hearing thresholds between control subjects and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and between active and remission status.

Materials and Methods:Thirty(30) Rheumatoid patients (RA group) and Twenty (20) healthy subjects (control group) were included in the study. Both groups were subjected to audiological testing: Pure tone audiometry, extended high frequency audiometry and auditory brain stem response (ABR). In RA group, the disease activity was assessed using DAS28-CRP.

Results:The air conduction pure-tone hearing thresholds were significantly higher at frequencies: 2000, 4000, 8000 Hz in the RA than control group. The extended high frequency audiometry hearing thresholds were significantly higher in Rheumatoid patients at 12000 and 16000 Hz. ABR showed a significant difference between the RA and control group regarding the absolute wave Vlatency only (P<0.05).The thresholds of pure tone audiometry and extended high frequency audiometry were higher in active patients than patients with remission, with significant difference at 12000 and 16000 Hz. A significant difference was observed between the active patients and patients with remission for the absolute wave Vlatency only. There was a significant positive correlation between the hearing threshold, ABR wave V latencyand the activity of the RA patients (P<0.05).

Conclusion: RA patients are at risk of hearing impairement, especially those with active disease.