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Updated: Dec 21, 2025
Neuro-rehabilitation Approach for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Published on: January 25, 2016
Hearing Loss in Patients With Ankylosing Spondylitis: A Systematic Review and Metaanalysis
Flora Yan1, Priyanka D Reddy2, Shaun A Nguyen2
1F. Yan, BA, P.D. Reddy, BS, S.A. Nguyen, MD, T.A. Meyer, MD, PhD, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina; yanf@musc.edu.
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.
