Sudden sensorineural hearing loss: is there a relationship between routine haematological parameters and audiogram shapes?

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationship between haematological routine parameters and audiogram shapes in patients affected by sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). Design: A retrospective study. All patients were divided into four groups according to the audiometric curve and mean values of haematological parameters (haemoglobin, white blood cell, neutrophils and lymphocytes relative count, platelet count, haematocrit, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen and neutrophil-to-lymphocite ratio) of each group were statistically compared. The prognostic role of blood profile and coagulation test was also examined. Study sample: A cohort of 183 SSNHL patients without comorbidities. Results: With a 48.78% of complete hearing recovery, individuals affected by upsloping hearing loss presented a better prognosis instead of flat (18.36%), downsloping (19.23%) and anacusis (2.45%) groups (p ¼ 0.0001). The multivariate analysis of complete blood count values revealed lower mean percentage of lymphocytes (p ¼ 0.041) and higher platelet levels (p ¼ 0.015) in case of downsloping hearing loss; with the exception of fibrinogen (p ¼ 0.041), none of the main haematological parameters studied resulted associated with poorer prognosis. Conclusions: Our work suggested a lack of association between haematological parameters and a defined audiometric picture in SSNHL patients; furthermore, only fibrinogen seems to influence the prognosis of this disease.

The Prognostic Value of Circulating Inflammatory Cell Counts in Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss and the Effect of Cardiovascular Risk Factors

“…Although it is not statistically significant, our results that support each other obviously made us think that high NLR and PLR, like some other authors, may not have a poor prognostic effect. 25,26 One of the most important limitations of our study is the retrospective design and the low number of cases. Another limitation is that, in our study, as in many other similar studies, a cutoff value related to diagnosis and prognosis for NLR and PLR values could not be specified.…”

“…Although it is not statistically significant, our results that support each other obviously made us think that high NLR and PLR, like some other authors, may not have a poor prognostic effect. 25,26…”

Differences in platelet-related parameters among patients with audiographically distinct sudden sensorineural hearing loss

“…Unfortunately, only a few studies have explored the relationships between SSNHLs subgrouped by audiographic data and routine blood parameters. [16] Therefore, we determined whether significant relationships were evident between various SSNHL audiographic patterns and routine blood parameters.…”

“…Recently, Salvago et al [16] compared differences in routine blood parameters (fibrinogen level; activated partial thromboplastin time; prothrombin time; hemoglobin, white blood cell, neutrophil, and lymphocyte levels; platelet count; and hematocrit) among SSNHL patients whose audiograms differed. The lymphocyte percentage was lower and the platelet count was higher in those with down-sloping HL than in others.…”

Is nucleate cell count and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio related to patients with audiographically distinct sudden sensorineural hearing loss?

“…Recently, Salvago et al [ 20 ] compared differences in routine blood parameters (fibrinogen level; activated partial thromboplastin time; prothrombin time; hemoglobin, white blood cell, neutrophil, lymphocyte levels, NLR, platelet count, and hematocrit) among SSNHL patients whose audiograms differed. They found that lymphocyte percentage was lower in those with HF-SSNHL hearing loss than in others; however, neither the white blood cell count nor the NLR differed significantly between patients varying in terms of audiographic data, [ 20 ] which were similar to those of our present report.…”