No lasting impact of Covid-19 on the auditory system: a prospective cohort study

Slight High-Frequency Hearing Loss, Effect of COVID-19 or Hydroxychloroquine Usage?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Concerns about ototoxic and vestibulotoxic effects have been raised with the use of antiviruses in the treatment of COVID-19. This study aimed to determine the effect of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and examine the auditory system and its associated auditory and vestibular symptoms in patients with COVID-19.

STUDY DESIGN

Prospective study.

PATIENTS

Thirty patients with a history of HCQ (HCQ+) and 30 patients without drug use (HCQ-), and 30 healthy adults as the control group participated.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Audiological assessments and evaluation of audio-vestibular symptoms. Evaluations were also repeated 1 month later.

RESULTS

Both HCQ+ and HCQ- groups showed poor pure-tone audiometry (PTA) thresholds and decreased transient evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes at high frequencies in comparison to the healthy group. Despite the lack of significant differences in PTA between the two groups of patients, the differences in transient evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes were significant. PTA thresholds and otoacoustic emission showed improvement after 1 month. Dizziness was the most common symptom that was reduced after 1 month.

CONCLUSION

Slight hearing loss was seen in patients with COVID-19 with or without HCQ. Also, hearing thresholds in the HCQ+ group did not show a significant difference compared with the HCQ- group. Nevertheless, it seems that more damage is done to the hair cells of patients with HCQ intake than in other patients. Hence, the ototoxicity effect of high doses of HCQ use in the COVID-19 patients should be considered. A relative improvement in the hearing was seen over time in both patient groups.

Vestibular Neuritis Following COVID-19 Vaccination: A Retrospective Study

Objective

To determine if the COVID-19 vaccine can cause vestibular neuritis (VN).

Design

Retrospective study.

Setting

Vertigo outpatient clinic of the Department of Otolaryngology JR Tokyo General Hospital.

Participants:

378 patients who presented at the Vertigo clinic between July 2018 and March 2022

Results

23 out of 378 cases were diagnosed with vestibular neuritis. There was a significant seasonal bias of the onset of VN in 2021-3Q compared to other seasons. All 7 patients diagnosed with VN whose onset was 2021-3Q and 2021-4Q had received the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine within the previous 3 months and one patient diagnosed with VN whose onset was 2022-1Q had a history of COVID-19 infection six months earlier.

Conclusions

VN should be recognized as one of the side-effects of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccination.