Effect of interferon treatment on hearing of patients with chronic Hepatitis C

• Main Authors: Abdulrahman Hagr, Dima Jamjoom, Faisal M Sanai, Waleed Al Hamoudi, Ayman A Abdo, Ahmed Al-Arfaj
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2011-01-01
• Series: The Saudi Journal of Gastroenterology
• Subjects: Hearing loss; hepatitis C; interferon; treatment
• Online Access: http://www.saudijgastro.com/article.asp?issn=1319-3767;year=2011;volume=17;issue=2;spage=114;epage=118;aulast=

Background/Aim: Some reports in the literature have linked interferon therapy for the treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) with hearing loss. The aim of this study has been to examine the effects of interferon therapy on hearing of patients treated for HCV. Patients and Methods: Patients were recruited according to preset inclusion criteria from two centers. All patients received standard dose pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN a-2b or a-2a) plus ribavirin (RBV). All patients had pure-tone audiometry (PTA), tympanogram and distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) before treatment, three months after initiation of treatment, and three months after completion of treatment. Results: Twenty one patients were prospectively recruited. The mean age was 45.7 years. The male to female ratio was 1.1:1. The mean PTA was 15.9 ± 5.3 before treatment, 17.4 ± 6.1 during treatment and 16.5 ± 5.1 after treatment. The differences between pre and mid, pre and post, as well as mid and post were not significantly different (P>0.05) in all audiological assessments. Conclusions: Our results indicate that PEG-IFN\RBV therapy does not have any impact on the hearing thresholds of patients with HCV.