Prevalence of hearing loss among newly diagnosed highly active antiretroviral therapy (Haart) naive adult patients in port harcourt

Background: Numerous studies have reported a relationship between human immune deficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency virus (AIDS) and auditory functions. There is a dearth of information on the prevalence of hearing loss among newly diagnosed HAART naive adult patients. Aim: This study therefore provides baseline information on the prevalence of hearing loss among newly diagnosed HAART naive adult patients in Port Harcourt and serves as a reference for the role of HAART in HIV related hearing loss and for future studies. Patients and Methods: This is a prospective cross-sectional study involving 260 participants; 130 newly diagnosed and 130 HIV-negative controls aged 18 to 50 years from two centers in Port Harcourt from July, 2018 to January, 2019. Participants were clerked and diagnostic pure tone audiometry was done. Results: The rate of hearing loss was observed with Pure Tone Audiometry to be higher (P-value = 0.001) among newly diagnosed HAART naive adult patients 37 (28.5%) in comparison to the control 8 (6.2%). The mean age of all the study participants was 31.80 +/- 9.61 years (study group 32.18 +/- 10.18 years, control group 31.42 +/- 9.12 years). Gender characteristic of participants also showed that males were 46 (35.4%) and females 84 (64.6%) giving a male, female ratio of 1:1.83 among newly diagnosed HAART naive adults, while among the control group there were males 49 (37.7%) and female 81 (62.3%) giving male: female ratio of 1:1.65. The rate of hearing loss at baseline was significantly (P = 0.001) higher among 37 HIV-positive HAART naive patients (28.5%) compared with 8 control patients (6.2%). Conclusion: There was significant proportion of hearing loss among newly diagnosed HAART naive adult patients in Port Harcourt.