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The Effect of Hormone Replacement Treatment on Hearing Function in Hypothyroid Patients

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Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aim

Congenital hypothyroidism causes physiologic, morphologic and developmental abnormalities of the auditory system. However, the effect of acquired hypothyroidism and hormone replacement treatment (HRT) on hearing function is still controversial. This study aimed to investigate hearing impairment and the effect of HRT on hearing function in patients with acquired hypothyroidism. Materials and Methods: Fifty hypothyroid patients were included in this study. Levothyroxine (0.05–0.2 mg/dl) was used for HRT and its dosage was gradually increased until the patients became euthyroid. Otoscopy and microscope was used to evaluate tympanic membrane and hearing thresholds and pure tone avarages (PTA) were estimated by using pure tone audiometry before and after treatment. Results: Patients with lower baseline free T4 (FT4) had significantly higher air conduction PTA (p < 0.05). Negative correlation between the severity of hypothyroidism and hearing gain were found (p < 0.05). Hearing improvements were at 250 and 8000 Hz after HRT. Conclusion: Due to the correlation between baseline FT4 and hearing impairment in a negative direction, disease severity may have an effect on hearing impairment. In addition, patients with lower FT4 and higher thyroid-stimulating hormone levels had lower PTA improvement after HRT. HRT may not significantly improve hearing disorders in severe hypothyroidism.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ear Nose and Throat Clinic, HaydarpaÅŸa Numune Research and Training Hospital, Ä°stanbul, Turkey

    Arzu Tatlıpınar & Tanju Gökçeer

  2. HaydarpaÅŸa Numune Research and Training Hospital, Endocrinology Clinic, Ä°stanbul, Turkey

    İlkay Kartal & Hülya Gözü

  3. Ear Nose and Throat Clinic, Gebze Fatih State Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Serhan Keskin

  4. HaydarpaÅŸa Numune Research and Training Hospital Internal Medicine Clinic, Ä°stanbul, Turkey

    Hayriye Külbay

Authors
  1. Arzu Tatlıpınar
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  2. Ä°lkay Kartal
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  3. Serhan Keskin
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  4. Hayriye Külbay
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  5. Hülya Gözü
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  6. Tanju Gökçeer
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Contributions

Arzu Tatlıpınar: Idea generation, study design, literature research, writing.

Ä°lkay Kartal: Study design, idea generation, experimental applications, writing.

Serhan Keskin: Study design, experimental applications, statistics, literature research, writing.

Hayriye Külbay: Study design, idea generation, writing.

Hülya Gözü: Study design, experimental applications, statistics, literature research.

Tanju Gökçeer: Experimental applications, statistics, writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Serhan Keskin.

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Compliance with ethical standards

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional guidelines on human experimentation (please name) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

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None.

Ethical Approval

The study protocol was approved by Local Ethical Committee before study.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all patients.

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Tatlıpınar, A., Kartal, İ., Keskin, S. et al. The Effect of Hormone Replacement Treatment on Hearing Function in Hypothyroid Patients. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 75 (Suppl 1), 181–186 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-022-03348-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-022-03348-y

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