Abstract
Objective: Viral diseases are one of the common causes of hearing loss. Inner ear may be involved directly or by secondary reaction (eg, poly arthritis nodosa). This goal was to investigate the relation between positive HBS-Ag (hepatitis B disease) and hearing loss.
Method: This case-study research was done on 95 hepatitis B patients as case group and 97 normal cases as control group. They were selected sequentially, and audiologic tests were performed on them. The hearing thresholds of the 2 groups were compared using t test.
Results: According to our audiometry results, pure tone average (mean thresholds of 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz) were 22.1 dB for left ear and 23.95 dB for right ear in the hepatitis B group, and 8.4 dB for left ear and 8.95 dB for right ear in the control group (HBSAg negative). Difference between 2 groups was statistically significant, with P < .05.
Conclusion: The results show that hepatitis B patients are more prone to hearing loss. In other words, hepatitis B disease can cause hearing loss. This study suggests that hepatitis B prophylaxis is important in decreasing hepatitis B involvement and, therefore, hearing loss.
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