Sensorineural Hearing Loss among Hypertensives.

BACKGROUND: The effect of hypertension on the vascular system leads to Target Organ Damage (TOD). The cochlea is one of the target organs affected by hypertension, giving rise to Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL). OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and pattern of Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) among hypertensives. DESIGN: Case-Control Study. SETTING: Tertiary hospital. SUBJECTS: Two hundred and twenty six hypertensives, aged 21 to 60 years and a corresponding number of age and sex matched control. METHODOLOGY: Eligible participants were prospectively evaluated. Their blood pressures were verified, hearing thresholds assessed through Pure Tone Audiometry, Pure Tone Average were calculated and the types and degree of hearing loss were confirmed. Data was analyzed using SPSS 21 and statistical significance was set at p-value 0.05. RESULTS: Each group had 127 (56.19% ) females and 99 ( 43.81 % ) males. The difference in the mean age between the cases (40.02 ± 0.70years) and the controls (37.42 ± 0.47years) was not statistically significant (p = 0.542).The difference in the mean Pure Tone Average in dBHL between the cases (15.53± 6.95) and the controls (13.98 ± 4.35) was significant (p = 0.005) with a 12.83% prevalence of SNHL among the hypertensives against 1.77% in the controls. Majority (96.6 %) of them demonstrated bilateral, symmetrical, mild SNHL with 51.7% of them being above 50 years. The odds ratio in this study was 8.17 (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a SNHL prevalence of 12.83% with a mild, bilateral, symmetrical pattern among hypertensives; increasing with advanced age and an eight-fold risk of occurrence.

Age-related hearing loss at Gwagwalada area council of federal capital territory, Abuja.

BACKGROUND: Presbyacusis is a cause of hearing loss in adults worldwide. It is a type of auditory dysfunction thought to be due to a series of insults over time including agerelated degeneration, noise exposure, and diseases of the ear. It usually affects the high frequencies of hearing. Presbyacusis has a tremendous impact on the quality of life of millions of the aged and is fast becoming an increasingly prevalent disorder as the population ages. Nigerian population is becoming progressively older making it imperative to focus on this area of research. It is worth noting that the Nigerian public health system does not have an effective and sustainable hearing loss screening strategy for lateonset hearing loss in adults. AIM/OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the hearing threshold and pure tone audiometric pattern/s seen in participants with agerelated hearing loss (ARHL) in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal capital territoryAbuja. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study was a prospective communitybased crosssectional study, and a multistage sampling technique was adopted for this study, conducted at Gwagwalada, Abuja. Individuals from 55 years and above were recruited into the study after signing an informed consent. After a thorough and detailed clinical assessment, tympanometry and diagnostic puretone audiometry were carried out in all the participants. RESULT: One hundred and fourteen participants were recruited into the study, out of which fourteen were excluded from the analysis on account of various exclusion criteria. The age range of the participants was 55 to 79 years, with a mean age of 65.8 ± 5.6 years.Twentyfive (25.0%) participants had normal hearing threshold, while seventyfive (75.0%) participants had sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). CONCLUSION: The study showed that the prevalence of ARHL from age 55 years and above at Gwagwalada Area Council, of FCT, Abuja was 75.0%.

Plain radiographic evaluation of the nasopharynx: do raters agree?

BACKGROUND: Subjective plain radiographic evaluation of the nasopharynx has been a widely adopted technique. Although it has its own limitations, its ease of interpretation and simplicity are some of its advantages. AIM: To investigate the reliability, using kappa, in subjectively reporting plain nasopharyngeal radiographs in children with symptoms suggestive of enlarged adenoids. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of the clinical records, and plain X-rays of the nasopharynx of paediatric patients with clinical features of adenoid hypertrophy in a Nigerian Tertiary Health Institution from January 2008 to December 2008. RESULTS: Fifty-one children with a mean age of 3.4 years; standard deviation of 2.772 was studied. They had an age range of 2 months to 12 years. Most (66.6%) of the children studied were in the age bracket 0-4 years. The inter-rater reliability between the two Otolaryngologists, and that between an Otolaryngologist and a Radiologist using kappa statistics were 0.6696, 95% CI (0.5035-0.8357; p<0.05) and 0.8182, 95% CI (0.7073-0.9291; p<0.05) respectively. While the kappa intra-rater reliabilities for the two Otolaryngologists were 0.6931, 95% CI (0.5473-0.8389) and 0.9591, 95% CI (0.9033-1.000). CONCLUSION: There was a high level of agreement among trained raters, in subjectively interpreting plain nasopharyngeal radiographs in children with suspected adenoidal obstruction.