The Prevalence of Hearing Loss in Patients with Hepatitis B Infection Compared with Healthy Volunteers

Abstract

Introduction: Hepatitis B virus is a virus that creates significant hepatic and extra-hepatic complications, with widespread prevalence across the community and body systemic involvement, and can impact on hearing performance. This study aims to evaluate hearing loss among individuals with hepatitis B compared with healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 83 HBsAg-positive patients with a 1-year history of disease were selected for pure tone audiometry (PTA) testing, while 108 HBsAg-negative patients were selected as the control group. Subjects in both groups were aged 20–40 years. The threshold was set at 25 db for hearing loss. Final data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: Significant differences were found between the case group and control group in average PTA and hearing loss. There was also a significant difference between the two groups in average PTA at frequencies of 250, 4,000, and 8,000 Hz, but not at speech frequencies of 500, 1,000 and 2,000 Hz, despite the difference in average PTA. Conclusion: According to significant differences in average PTA between patients with hepatitis B virus and healthy subjects in this study, hearing loss may be attributed to the presence HBV of in the patient group.

Keywords

• Audiometry
• Hepatitis B infection
• Hearing loss
• Healthy volunteers