Prevalence and patterns of hearing loss among chronic kidney disease patients undergoing haemodialysis

The prevalence, degree, and patterns of hearing loss associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) reported by various studies differ significantly. The effects of haemodialysis and duration of disease on hearing loss remain unclear.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and degree of hearing loss in CKD patients on haemodialysis.

This study included 120 CKD patients on haemodialysis. Information regarding age, gender, duration of disease, subjective hearing loss, exposure to ototoxic drugs, comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, and hypothyroidism, renal functions, electrolytes and number of haemodialysis sessions received were obtained. An equal number of age and sex matched controls were used to determine prevalence of hearing loss in CKD patients after subjecting both groups to pure tone audiometry. We compared CKD patients with and without hearing loss for association of hearing loss with disease duration, number of haemodialysis, and blood parameters.

Hearing loss was present in 41.7 per cent of CKD patients, significantly higher than controls (p=0.001), and was mild in the majority of patients. Impairment was noted across high and low frequencies of audiometric testing. Median duration of disease was the same (18 months) among CKD patients with and without hearing loss (p=0.62). CKD patients with hearing loss received 72 haemodialysis compared to 122 sessions by those without hearing loss (p=0.04).

Mild sensorineural hearing loss is common in CKD. Hearing loss has no specific pattern as it prevails at high and low frequencies. Hearing loss may be inversely associated with the number of haemodialysis sessions but not with duration of disease.