Current practice of ototoxicity management across the United Kingdom (UK)

Figures & data

Figure 1. Geographical locations across the UK of survey respondents (N = 134).

Figure 2. ARF (%) distribution of responses to questions asking if ototoxicity monitoring of hearing and balance function and if baseline assessments were performed.

Table 1. ARF (%) showing which patient groups are mostly exposed to ototoxic agents (respondents were allowed to choose multiple options).

Patient group	Adjusted relative frequency (%)
Cancer	90
Acute infection	47
Chronic infection	40
Tuberculosis (TB)	26
Thalassemia	15
Cystic fibrosis	30
Cardiovascular disease	13
Kidney disease	33
Other	10

Table 2. Absolute frequencies (%) from each target group regarding the patient referral pathway.

Speciality	Source of referral	How they manage the referral	Management outcome
Audiologist (n = 64)	GP: 37.5% Ward: 52% ENT: 67% AVM: 14% Audiology Department: 23% Walk in clinic: 9% Hospital Department: 56% Other: 8%	Manage themselves: 31% Refer to GP: 14% Refer to audiology: 16% Refer to ENT: 48% Refer to AVM: 14% Refer to other: 17%	Patient discharged: 20% Follow up: 33% Monitoring continues: 30% Referral to another service: 14% Other: 6%
ENT/AVP (n = 21)	GP: 71% Ward: 38% ENT: 48% AVM: 5% Audiology Department: 38% Walk in clinic: 62% Hospital department: 62% Other: 14%	Manage themselves: 76% Refer to GP: 14% Refer to audiology: 43% Refer to ENT: 5% Refer to AVM: 5% Refer to other: 0%	Patient discharged: 14% Follow up: 52% Monitoring continues: 29% Referral to another service: 5% Other: 5%
GP (n = 5)	GP: 20% Ward: 0% ENT: 40% AVM: 20% Audiology department: 40% Walk in clinic: 20% Hospital department: 0% Other: 0%	Manage themselves: 0% Refer to GP: 20% Refer to audiology: 60% Refer to ENT: 20% Refer to AVM: 0% Refer to other: 0%	Patient discharged: 0% Follow up: 40% Monitoring continues: 20% Referral to another service: 20% Other: 20%
Other (n = 6)	GP: 17% Ward: 67% ENT: 17% AVM: 0% Audiology Department: 33% Walk in clinic: 0% Hospital department: 100% Other: 0%	Manage themselves: 17% Refer to GP: 0% Refer to audiology: 50% Refer to ENT: 17% Refer to AVM: 0% Refer to other: 17%	Patient discharged: 0% Follow up: 50% Monitoring continues: 33% Referral to another service: 0% Other: 0%

Figure 4. (a–f) Relative frequency (RF) of respondents by choice (%) specifying the different ototoxicity management services that they offer (respondents were asked to choose all the options that applied to their service. n: number of respondents to each question).

Figure 3. Pie chart illustrating the distribution of the various locations where patients with ototoxicity are generally management.