The short-term effect of COVID-19 on the cochleovestibular system in pediatric patients

The audio-vestibular equivalent of neurological symptoms secondary to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been discussed; however, it has not been fully clarified. Although it has been reported that the vestibulocochlear system is affected in adult coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients, there is no study in the literature in which the pediatric patient group with COVID-19 was evaluated comprehensively with auditory and vestibular tests. In this study, the short-term damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 in the vestibulocochlear system in pediatric patients was examined.

This study aimed to evaluate the vestibulocochlear system of pediatric patients (aged 9-15 years) with a recent history of COVID-19. The study included 35 individuals with a recent history of COVID-19 and 35 age-gender-matched healthy individuals (control group). Pure tone audiometry, suppressed otoacoustic emission (OAE), video head impulse test (VHIT), and cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (c/o-VEMP) tests were administered to all participants following their otoscopic examinations, and the obtained data were compared between the two groups.

When the data obtained with pure tone audiometry were compared, statistically significant differences were found between the groups at four different frequencies (1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz) in favor of the control group. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values obtained before noise at 2800 Hz and before and after noise at 4000 Hz. VHIT lateral gain, LARP gain, and RALP gain were statistically significantly lower in the COVID-19 group than in the control group (p < 0.05). VHIT lateral asymmetry parameter was measured higher in the COVID-19 group than in the control group, and this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). In the VHIT test, the asymmetry parameter was significantly higher in the COVID-19 group (p < 0.05). In the o-VEMP test, n10 latency, p15 latency, n10-p15 interlatency, n10-p15 interpeak amplitude, and asymmetry parameters were measured, and no statistically significant difference was found between the COVID-19 group and the control group (p > 0.05).

Evidence was obtained that the cochleovestibular system was damaged in pediatric patients in the early post-COVID-19 period.