RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Hearing Loss in Patients With Ankylosing Spondylitis: A Systematic Review and Metaanalysis
JF The Journal of Rheumatology
JO J Rheumatol
FD The Journal of Rheumatology
SP jrheum.200276
DO 10.3899/jrheum.200276
A1 Flora Yan
A1 Priyanka D.  Reddy
A1 Shaun A.  Nguyen
A1 Celine Ward
A1 Ted A.  Meyer
YR 2020
UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2020/11/10/jrheum.200276.abstract
AB Objective To determine the prevalence of hearing loss (HL) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to describe frequency-specific hearing threshold changes in this patient population compared to patients without AS. Methods A systematic review querying 4 databases (PubMed, OVID Medline, Scopus, Cochrane) was performed to identify studies evaluating HL in patients with AS. Metaanalysis was performed to identify overall prevalence rate and OR of HL, as well as to compare mean differences in frequency-specific hearing thresholds between patients with and without AS. Results Our metaanalysis included 14 studies and 1083 patients (598 with AS vs 485 without AS). The pooled prevalence of HL in patients with AS was 42.4% (95% CI 29.2–56.2). Patients with AS had a significantly higher OR of HL than patients without AS (OR 4.65, 95% CI 2.73–7.91). Mean differences in pure-tone hearing thresholds ranged from 0–5 decibels (dB) for frequencies of 0.25–4 kHz, and from 5–15 dB for frequencies of 6–16 kHz. Conclusion Patients with AS have higher odds of having HL than patients without AS. The AS population also presents with significantly impaired hearing thresholds across all conventional and extended pure-tone frequencies. This may manifest as slight to moderate HL. Results of this systematic review might justify increased attention to audiologic manifestations of patients with AS.