Clinical features and prognosis of pediatric idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: A bi-center retrospective study

Yingqiang Li; Xiaowei Zhou; Zhiyong Dou; Dongzhou Deng; Dan Bing

doi:10.3389/fneur.2023.1121656

Clinical features and prognosis of pediatric idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: A bi-center retrospective study

Front Neurol. 2023 Mar 15:14:1121656. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1121656. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yingqiang Li¹, Xiaowei Zhou², Zhiyong Dou³, Dongzhou Deng¹, Dan Bing¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
² Otological Department, The First People's Hospital of Foshan, Foshan, China.
³ School of Electronic Information and Communications, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Objective: Limited research has focused on the clinical features of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in pediatric patients. This study is aimed to investigate the relationship between clinical features and the baseline hearing severity and outcomes of SSNHL in the pediatric population.

Method: We conducted a bi-center retrospective observational study in 145 SSNHL patients aged no more than 18 years who were recruited between November 2013 and October 2022. Data extracted from medical records, audiograms, complete blood count (CBC) and coagulation tests have been assessed for the relationship with the severity (the thresholds of the initial hearing) and outcomes (recovery rate, hearing gain and the thresholds of the final hearing).

Results: A lower lymphocyte count (P = 0.004) and a higher platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (P = 0.041) were found in the patient group with profound initial hearing than in the less severe group. Vertigo (β = 13.932, 95%CI: 4.082-23.782, P = 0.007) and lymphocyte count (β = -6.686, 95%CI: -10.919 to -2.454, P = 0.003) showed significant associations with the threshold of the initial hearing. In the multivariate logistic model, the probability of recovery was higher for patients with ascending and flat audiograms compared to those with descending audiograms (ascending: OR 8.168, 95% CI 1.450-70.143, P = 0.029; flat: OR 3.966, 95% CI 1.341-12.651, P = 0.015). Patients with tinnitus had a 3.2-fold increase in the probability of recovery (OR 3.222, 95% CI 1.241-8.907, P = 0.019), while the baseline hearing threshold (OR 0.968, 95% CI 0.936-0.998, P = 0.047) and duration to the onset of therapy (OR 0.942, 95% CI 0.890-0.977, P = 0.010) were negatively associated with the odds of recovery.

Conclusions: The present study showed that accompanying tinnitus, the severity of initial hearing loss, the time elapse and the audiogram configuration might be related to the prognosis of pediatric SSNHL. Meanwhile, the presence of vertigo, lower lymphocytes and higher PLR were associated with worse severity.

Keywords: audiogram; complete blood count (CBC); pediatric; sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL); tinnitus.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the Hubei Provincial Key Research and Development Program (2022BCA006), the Wuhan Knowledge Innovation Project (2022022101015011), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81500794), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M613326).