Hearing Status in Adult Individuals with Lifetime, Untreated Isolated Growth Hormone Deficiency

• Published in: Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery Vol. 150; no. 3; pp. 464 - 471
• Main Authors: Prado-Barreto, Valéria M., Salvatori, Roberto, Santos Júnior, Ronaldo C., Brandão-Martins, Mariane B., Correa, Eric A., Garcez, Flávia B., Valença, Eugênia H. O., Souza, Anita H. O., Pereira, Rossana M. C., Nunes, Marco A. P., D’Avila, Jeferson S., Aguiar-Oliveira, Manuel H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-03-2014
• Subjects: Adult; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Brazil - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dwarfism, Pituitary - complications; Dwarfism, Pituitary - physiopathology; Female; hearing; Hearing - physiology; hearing loss; Hearing Loss - epidemiology; Hearing Loss - etiology; Hearing Loss - physiopathology; Humans; Incidence; isolated growth hormone deficiency; Male; Middle Aged; Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; Surveys and Questionnaires; Brazil; hearing; isolated growth hormone deficiency; hearing loss
• ISSN: 0194-5998; 1097-6817
• DOI: 10.1177/0194599813517987

Objective
To evaluate the hearing status of growth hormone (GH)–naive adults with isolated GH deficiency (IGHD) belonging to an extended Brazilian kindred with a homozygous mutation in the GH-releasing hormone receptor gene.
Study Design
Cross-sectional.
Setting
Divisions of Endocrinology and Otorhinolaryngology of the Federal University of Sergipe.
Subjects and Methods
Twenty-six individuals with IGHD (age, 47.6 ± 15.1 years; 13 women) and 25 controls (age, 46.3 ± 14.3 years; 15 women) were administered a questionnaire on hearing complaints and hearing health history. We performed pure-tone audiometry, logoaudiometry, electroacoustic immittance, and stapedial reflex. To assess outer hair cell function in the cochlea, we completed transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs). To assess the auditory nerve and auditory brainstem, we obtained auditory brainstem responses (ABRs).
Results
Misophonia and dizziness complaints were more frequent in those with IGHD than in controls (P = .011). Patients with IGHD had higher thresholds at 250 Hz (P = .005), 500 Hz (P = .006), 3 KHz (P = .008), 4 KHz (P = .038), 6 KHz (P = .008), and 8 KHz (P = .048) and mild high-tones hearing loss (P = .029). Stapedial reflex (P < .001) and TEOAEs (P = .025) were more frequent in controls. There were no differences in ABR latencies. Hearing loss in patients with IGHD occurred earlier than in controls (P < .001).
Conclusion
Compared with controls of the same area, subjects with untreated, congenital lifetime IGHD report more misophonia and dizziness, have predominance of mild high-tones sensorineural hearing loss, and have an absence of stapedial reflex and TEOAEs.