RESEARCH - Ear involvement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

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Otol Neurotol. 2005 Jul;26(4):755-61.

Ear involvement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Department of Otolaryngology, St. nna Medical University, Kawasaki,

Kanagawa, Japan.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the degree of hearing impairment in patients

with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and examines the correlation between hearing

impairment and the clinical data or chemical mediators. BACKGROUND: Both

sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and conductive hearing loss (CHL) have

been reported in patients with RA, but the results of most studies are not

in agreement, and the pathophysiology of hearing impairment in RA is not

well known. METHODS: Hearing in patients with RA and controls was examined

using pure-tone audiometry and tympanometry. Also, the amounts of

pro-inflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases in addition to

antibodies against type II collagen in plasma of the patients with RA were

determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The frequency

of SNHL in the patients with RA was higher than in normal controls (36.1%

versus 13.9%), and bone conduction at 2,000 Hz differed significantly

between the patients with RA and the controls (p < 0.01). Moreover, the

presence of SNHL was related to ESR (p < 0.05), plasma interleukin-6 (p <

0.05), and plasma matrix metalloproteinase-3 (p < 0.001). On the other hand,

CHL was not observed, whereas As-type tympanograms increased in the patients

with RA (p < 0.01). Abnormal tympanograms were not related to any clinical

findings or any chemical mediators tested.

CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that there is increased SNHL in patients with

RA, which may result from systemic inflammation and tissue injury, and

increased latent-type CHL caused by stiffness of the middle ear system whose

mechanisms are not yet clear.

PMID: 16015180

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16015180

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