EFFECT OF EARLY ONSET TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS ON HEARING

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus is a multifunctional metabolic disorder affecting almost all the systems of the body. There is a strong relation between diabetes mellitus and hearing. The three main theories of pathogenesis of hearing impairment in diabetics are micro angiopathy,. neuropathy and combination of both. Even though studies have proved the occurrence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in diabetes mellitus (DM), disagreement still exists among some about their relation. DESIGN: prospective design. AIM: Present study aimed 1) To find the prevalence of Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus 2) To study the association of hearing loss with the following factors among type 2 DM (a) Duration of Diabetes Mellitus (b) Severity of hyperglycemia. 3) To evaluate the result of our study and to compare our data with similarly published studies. METHOD: 75 individuals (150 ears) who have type 2 Diabetes Mellitus participated in the study. RESULTS: Prevalence of SNHL in type 2 DM was 80%. There was no association between SNHL and duration of DM but positive association was found between SNHL and severity of hyperglycemia. DISCUSSION: Globalization is rapidly transforming India from a developing to a developed country. People have become more health conscious and they expect to add more socially and economically productive years to their life span and hence this disorder which manifests mainly in middle age and older years of life require consideration. Hence this study is the need of the hour.