Determination of hearing levels in patients with Familial Mediterranean Fever.

OBJECTIVE: Familial Mediterranean Fever is the most common congenital, periodic fever condition that affects over 100,000 people worldwide. In the literature, there is limited number of studies about hearing levels in children with Familial Mediterranean Fever. In the present study, we aimed to investigate hearing levels and cochlear functions by using Distortion product Otoacoustic Emission and High Frequency Audiometry (250-20,000 Hz) in pediatric patients with Familial Mediterranean Fever. METHODS: The study included 62 children with Familial Mediterranean Fever and 27 healthy children with similar age and gender. After otoscopic examination, both groups underwent audiological evaluation including High Frequency Audiometry (250-20,000 Hz) and Distortion product Otoacoustic Emissions. The results obtained were assessed among groups. In addition, these results were compared regarding colchicine use, age at the onset of disease and duration of the diseases in the Familial Mediterranean Fever group. RESULTS: Of the Familial Mediterranean Fever patients, 93.5% were on colchicine therapy and mean duration of colchicine use was 19.9 ± 13.9 months. The mean age at diagnosis was 6.57 ± 2.86 years (min-max: 2-14) and mean duration of disease was 23 ± 17 months (min-max: 6-84). Pure tone audiometry values, and hearing levels between 9000 and 20,000 Hz were similar and within normal range in both groups. The Distortion product Otoacoustic Emissions responses at the frequencies of 1020, 2040, 3000, 4080 and 5040 Hz were similar for both groups. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating hearing levels at the frequencies of 18k Hz and 20k Hz in children with Familial Mediterranean Fever in the literature. In children with Familial Mediterranean Fever, Pure tone audiometry values, hearing values obtained at all frequencies from 250 to 20,000 Hz, and Distortion product Otoacoustic Emissions levels were within normal range. Furthermore, hearing levels were found to be similar to those in healthy children.