Prevalence of hearing loss among newly diagnosed Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) naive adult patients in Port Harcourt

Abstract

Background: Numerous studies have reported a relationship between human immune deficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency virus (AIDS) and auditory functions. There is a dearth of information on the prevalence of hearing loss among newly diagnosed HAART naïve adult patients.

Aim: This study therefore provides baseline information on the prevalence of hearing loss among newly diagnosed HAART naïve adult patients in Port Harcourt and serves as a reference for the role of HAART in HIV related hearing loss and for future studies.

Patients and Methods: This is a prospective cross‑sectional study involving 260 participants; 130 newly diagnosed and 130 HIV‑negative controls aged 18 to 50 years from two centers in Port Harcourt from July, 2018 to January, 2019. Participants were clerked and diagnostic pure tone audiometry was done.

Results: The rate of hearing loss was observed with Pure Tone Audiometry to be higher (P‑value = 0.001) among newly diagnosed HAART naive adult patients 37 (28.5%) in comparison to the control 8 (6.2%). The mean age of all the study participants was 31.80 ± 9.61 years (study group 32.18 ± 10.18 years, control group 31.42 ± 9.12 years). Gender characteristic of participants also showed that males were 46 (35.4%) and females 84 (64.6%) giving a male, female ratio of 1:1.83 among newly diagnosed HAART naive adults, while among the control group there were males 49 (37.7%) and female 81 (62.3%) giving male: female ratio of 1:1.65. The rate of hearing loss at baseline was significantly (P = 0.001) higher among 37 HIV‑positive HAART naïve patients (28.5%) compared with 8 control patients (6.2%).

Conclusion: There was significant proportion of hearing loss among newly diagnosed HAART naive adult patients in Port Harcourt.