Enica Richard Massawe¹*, Ndeserua Moshi¹, John Kimario², Edwin Liyombo² and Perfect Kishevo²

¹Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
²Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania

*Corresponding Author: Enica Richard Massawe, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Received: January 26, 2022; Published: March 11, 2022

Abstract

Introduction: Hearing is a complex sense involving both the ear's ability to detect sounds and the brain's ability to interpret those sounds, including the sounds of speech. Hearing loss is the most frequent sensory deficit in human populations, affecting more than 250 million people in the world. Consequences of hearing impairment include inability to interpret speech sounds, often producing a reduced ability to communicate, economic and educational disadvantage, social isolation and stigmatization.

HIV/AIDS is among infectious diseases that has significant detrimental effects on the auditory system. As many as 75% of adults living with HIV are reported to experience at some point in time, auditory dysfunction secondary to HIV infection. The exact prevalence and mechanisms of auditory dysfunction remain unclear to date and poses challenges in the assessment, treatment and monitoring of these patients.

Objective: To determine the pattern of hearing loss among HIV/AIDS adult patients attending antiretroviral therapy(ART) clinic at Tertiary Hospital in Tanzania.

Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional study design based in hospital.

Methodology: A total of 371 HIV/AIDS adults patients attending ART clinic were enrolled. Patients were interviewed by the structured questionnaire followed by otoscopic examination and pure tone audiometry. The patient’s medical files were reviewed to get the recent CD4 count. All information obtained was entered in a computer and analysed using SPSS version 17 software. The Chi-square test for proportions were used to determine the differences among different groups

Results: The study included 371 HIV/AIDS adults patients 39.1% were males and 60.9% were females, 80.6% were on ART and 19.4% were not on ART. The prevalence of hearing loss was 33.2%. As age advances, there was an increase in hearing loss from 28.3%, 30.4% and 57.7% respectively which was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The study found that SNHL was high 19.1%, followed by conductive 11.6% and mixed hearing loss 2.4% (P < 0.05). Among the study population 32.3%, 30.5% and 37.2% were found to have hearing loss corresponding to CD4 <200, 200-499, and >500 respectively. These findings were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). There was an increase in the prevalence of SNHL15.5%, 18.1%, 22.5% and conductive hearing loss 10.8% 11.3%, 12.4% which was corresponding to increases in CD4 count CD4 <200, 200-499, and >500 respectively. Mild hearing loss was found to be 23.5% with decrease in percentage as severity of hearing loss increases. There was high prevalence of hearing loss in those not on ART 44.4% compared to 30.4% in those on ART. These findings were statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Hearing loss is of high prevalence in HIV patients. It is more prevalent in those not on ART as compared to those on ART. Further studies are important to see the correlation with these factors.

Keywords: Patterns of Hearing Loss; Human Immunodeficiency Virus; Adult Patients

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Citation

Citation: Enica Richard Massawe., et al. “Patterns of Hearing Loss Among HIV Adult Patients Attending Clinic at Tertiary Hospital, Tanzania".Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 4.4 (2022): 10-20.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Enica Richard Massawe., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.