Pilot Study of Audiometric Patterns in Fuchs Corneal Dystrophy

Purpose: Although Fuchs corneal dystrophy (FCD) is considered an eye disease, a small number of studies have identified genes related to both FCD and hearing loss. Whether FCD is related to hearing loss is unknown. Method: This is a case-control study comparing pure-tone audiometry hearing thresholds in 180 patients with FCD from a hospital-based ophthalmology clinic with 2,575 population-based controls from a nationally representative survey, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (from cycles 2005-06 and 2009-10). Generalized estimating equations were used to compare mean better-hearing ear thresholds in the 2 groups adjusted for age, sex, race, and noise exposure. Results: Patients with FCD had higher hearing thresholds (worse hearing) in lower frequencies (mean difference at 0.5 kHz = 3.49 dB HL) and lower hearing thresholds (better hearing) in higher frequencies (difference at 4 kHz = -4.25 dB HL) compared with population-based controls. Conclusion: In the first study to use objectively measured hearing, FCD was associated with poorer low-frequency and better high-frequency audiometric thresholds than population controls. Further studies are needed to characterize this relationship.