Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction

Women with Turner Syndrome have an increased prevalence of hearing loss. Conductive hearing loss (CHL) is thought to be caused by craniofacial abnormalities or defective mucociliary transport resulting in impaired middle ear ventilation, increased otitis media and tympanic perforations. Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) progresses with age, possibly due to premature aging. An adult population was assessed for the impact of childhood treatment with growth hormone (GH) and oestrogen.

Method

138 patients (median age 29.0, range 16-67 years) underwent a hearing test. Hearing test results were recorded and correlated with ENT history of grommets (34.6% patients), tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy (53.4%), recurrent otitis media (56.0%), perforated eardrum (21.0%) and hearing aid use (18.4%) as well as karyotype, height, weight, BMI, age and history of GH and oestrogen use.

Results

18.8% of patients had normal hearing, 18.8% CHL, 58.7% SNHL, and 3.6% had confounding factors.

CHL was more common in those with an ENT history and karyotype monosomy 45,X (p<0.05). There was no association with history of GH or oestrogen use, even when corrected for age.

SNHL prevalence was lower in those with previous GH use, even when corrected for age (p<0.05). Of those who received GH, longer duration of use was also associated with a reduced prevalence of SNHL (p<0.05). Oestrogen use showed no association, even when corrected for age. There was no association with ENT history or karyotype.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that GH prevents sensorineural deafness but not conductive deafness in adults with Turner Syndrome. Although obvious confounding factors were corrected for, others cannot be excluded. ENT history and karyotype were associated with CHL but not SNHL. Oestrogen use had no effect on hearing outcome.