Alteration of auditory function in type 2 diabetic and pre-diabetic patients

Abstract

Background: The association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hearing loss has not been fully investigated and there is little information on the effects of pre-diabetes on alterations in auditory function in Chinese subjects.

Methods: The study recruited 51 patients with T2DM, 55 patients with pre-diabetes and 43 control subjects. Auditory function was assessed by pure tone audiometry (PTA) tests and distortion product of otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs). Tinnitus symptoms were recorded using a medical history questionnaire.

Results: A significantly larger number of patients with T2DM (45.1%) were affected by hearing loss, compared to pre-diabetes patients (23.6%; p = .04) and control subjects (25.6%; p = .02), as assessed by PTA. There was no significant difference in PTA between the number of pre-diabetes patients and control subjects. In contrast, mean DPOAEs amplitudes of the pre-diabetes patients were significantly lower than of the control subjects, at all frequencies investigated, except 0.75 kHz. A significantly greater number of pre-diabetes patients reported tinnitus symptoms.

Conclusions: Diabetes is associated with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, especially at high frequencies. While pre-diabetes is not necessarily associated with significant hearing loss, there may be cochlear malfunction, as indicated by DPOAEs. Thus, patients with pre-diabetes who have tinnitus may benefit from DPOAEs and PTA tests.

Chinese abstract

背景：2型糖尿病（T2DM）与听力损失之间的关系还没有 得到充分研究, 关于糖尿病前期对中国人听觉功能改变的影响的资料很少。

方法：本研究招入51例T2DM患者, 55例糖尿病前期患者和43例对照受试者。通过纯音测听（PTA）测试和耳声发射失真（DPOAE）评估听觉功能。通过病史问卷来记录耳鸣症状。

结果：根据PTA测试, 与糖尿病前期患者（23.6%; p = 0.04）和对照受试者（25.6%; p = 0.02）相比, 多得多的T2DM患者（45.1%）受到听力损失的影响。 糖尿病前期患者数和对照组成员数之间没有显著的PTA差异。相比之下, 除了0.75kHz之外, 在所有调查频率处, 糖尿病前期患者的平均DPOAEs幅度显著低于对照受试者。很多糖尿病前期患者诉有耳鸣症状。

结论：糖尿病与双侧感音神经性听力损失有关, 特别是在高频率时。虽然糖尿病前期并不一定会导致严重的听力损失, 但根据DPOAE测试, 可能会导致耳蜗功能障碍。因此, 患有耳鸣的糖尿病前期患者可能受益于DPOAEs和PTA检测。

Keywords:

• Type 2 diabetes mellitus
• pre-diabetes
• auditory function
• tinnitus symptoms

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science and Technology Pillar Program during the 12th Five-Year Plan of China [No. 2012BAI12B02]. Capital Ten Major Disease Projects to Promote Scientific and Technological Achievements [Z121107006212005]. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences [KF2016-13].