Effect of Duration of Diabetes Mellitus on Hearing Threshold among Type 2 Diabetics.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a syndrome of chronic hyperglycemia due to relative insulin deficiency or resistance. The risk of complications of diabetes has been observed to increase as a function of the duration of hyperglycemia. Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the effect of duration of DM on hearing thresholds among type 2 diabetics. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted between October 2015 and May 2016 in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto among type 2 diabetic patients attending the Endocrine Clinic of the hospital. Patients had their blood sugar and hearing thresholds measured. Results: A total of 170 type 2 diabetics were recruited into the study, out of which 98 (57.6%) were females and 72 (42.4%) were males. The mean age was 46.49 ± 10.02 years. One hundred and twenty-two (71.8%) had elevated hearing thresholds. The mean duration of diabetes among participants was 7.81 ± 5.34 years, with durations ranging from <1 year to 30 years. The mean pure tone average increased with increase in duration of diabetes (P < 0.001). Simple linear regression showed that increase in duration of diabetes was positively related with hearing threshold (P < 0.0001). For every year increase in duration of type 2 DM, a 1.036 dB HL increase in pure tone average is to be expected. Conclusion: This study demonstrated a relationship between duration of diabetes and hearing threshold. It has shown that as the duration of hyperglycemia increased, the hearing threshold among participants also increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]