Rezwanur Rahman¹, Nayareen Akhtar^2,, Asia Khanam³, Muhammad Rafiqul Alam³

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the association between chronic kidney disease and sensorineural hearing impairment. Early detection of sensorineural hearing imapirment in CKD patient will allow appropriate treatment which will improve quality of hearing. Hypothesis: Sensorineural hearing impairment is more prevalent in chronic kidney disease patients than control group. Setting: The work was done at a tertiary level hospital in the central part of country. Participants: The subjects were divided into a case group consisting of 55 CKD patients and a control group of 50 people. Subjects with age below 18 years and above 60 years, AKI, audiometric evidence of conductive hearing loss & past medical or surgical treatment of otologic conditions were excluded from the study. Results. Prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss in CKD patients was found to be 54% and the prevalence of hearing loss in control subjects was found to be 16%. Comparison of hearing loss between CKD and the control groups was found to be statistically strongly significant (p value was 0.0004). In CKD patients, 10 % had mild loss of hearing impairment, 30 % had moderate loss, severe loss was present in 40% patients and 20% had profound loss of hearing. By disease stage, the prevalence of hearing loss in CKD patients was as follows: stage III, 6.6%; stage IV, 33.3% and stage V 60 %. Conclusion: The present study showed the relationship between chronic kidney disease and sensorineural hearing impairment to be statitistically significant (P<0.05) which signifies that that hearing loss is relatively prevalent in patients with CKD.

CKD, hearing loss