Hearing loss in Iranian children with cystic fibrosis

Background: Cystic fibrosis is the most common genetic disease in white populations. Regard to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and exocrine glands disorders, increased risk of hearing loss in these patients should be considered.

Methods: In this descriptive study, 47 children with cystic fibrosis selected and For all of patients, complete ear, mouth, throat and nose examinations and audiometric tests and assessment of hearing loss (conductive, sensorineural and mixed) and tympanometric test was performed. Hearing loss defined as decreased hearing from normal, more than 15 db in two frequencies or more than two frequencies between 250 HZ to 8000 HZ.

Results: Audiometric tests show that overall prevalence of hearing loss was 17.02 %, 10.6 % was sensorineural and 6.4% conductive.

Conclusion: This study revealed that there was high prevalence of hearing loss, which makes cyctic fibrosis patients in high risk group which needs periodic assessment by an otolaryngologist.