Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials in Uncontrolled Diabetes Mellitus with and without Complications

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder known to affect all body systems especially neurons, retina and kidneys. Peripheral neuropathy has been widely studied but the exploration of central neurons is limited. Aim: To evaluate the magnitude of changes in Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials (BAEP) in uncontrolled diabetics with or without complications. Materials and Methods: Fifty uncontrolled Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) patients of both sexes including 20 with neuropathy and 10 with retinopathy but having no hearing loss were evaluated for absolute and inter peak latencies by brainstem evoked potentials. This pilot study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut, India, between the periods of November 2016 to July 2017, To evaluate the results, ANOVA, unpaired Student's t-test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used. Results: The study revealed that almost all the absolute (AL) and Inter Peak Latencies (IPLs) were increased significantly (p<0.001) in patients with complications. Also, the threshold stimulus of median nerve was greater in them. The increase in latencies was not associated with either blood sugar level or duration of illness. Conclusion: It appears that diabetes mellitus has ototoxic role and regular BAEP test may detect the hearing loss at an early stage.

Keywords

• neuropathy
• retinopathy
• sensorineural hearing loss