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Sudden irreversible hearing loss post COVID-19
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  • Published on: 23 April 2021
    Response from authors
    • Cillian Forde, ENT Specialty Registrar UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
    Thank you for your correspondence. 
     
    We reported this case as a possible early association during the first wave when it was impossible to discern whether there was a true connection between COVID and SSNHL, let alone determine the incidence. The paper was clear that direct causation wasn’t proven, but it served to highlight the importance of prompt treatment of SSNHL which is often associated with viral aetiologies. 
     
    The case report was written to create early awareness of a possible link. Since then, a BRC funded team in Manchester have published a systematic review linking the two and are also undertaking a year-long study into the association. An NIHR/BRC team in Nottingham are doing similarly. 
     
    ...
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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.
  • Published on: 23 April 2021
    Association or coincidence?
    • Chris J Webb, ENT Consultant Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust

    The authors describe a single patient who tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 and had sensorineural hearing loss.
    In their article they mention that the annual incidence of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is between 5 and 160 patients per 100,000.
    The current population of the UK is 67.866.011 according to the latest data (https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/uk-demographics/, accessed 18th October 2020).
    This therefore suggests that there will be between 3,393 and 108,585 patients presenting with SSNHL in the UK this year. Accepting that we have not completed the year we can expect around 80% of the above figures to represent the expected incidence so far i.e. somewhere between 2,714 and 86,868 patients experiencing SSNHL.
    The estimated incidence of Covid in the UK population is 0.62%, or 1 in 160 people have so far had Covid.
    Therefore, purely by statistics alone, the number of patients with both Covid and SSNHL should lie somewhere between 17 and 543.
    Whilst the authors make no claim that in their presented case the Covid was directly responsible for the SSNHL it seems surprising that this article was published by the BMJ as it stands without the authors making any attempt to discern the true incidence of SSNHL in patients with Covid.

    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.
  • Published on: 14 April 2021
    Utilization of the Brighton Collaboration consensus case definition for the standardized assessment of sensorineural hearing loss in COVID-19 related hearing loss
    • Yi-Chun C. Liu, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine
    • Other Contributors:
      • Robert Chen, Scientific Director
      • Flor M Munoz, Associate Professor of Pediatrics

    To the authors:
    We read with interest the article entitled “Sudden irreversible hearing loss post COVID-19”.1 In this article, the authors presented an unusual case of a 45 year-old gentleman with sudden-onset sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) after COVID-19 infection and treatment. In their literature review, five other case reports were cited with hearing loss noted after COVID-19.2-6 The patient in the case report experienced a decrease in his left sided hearing 1 week after his intensive care unit stay for COVID-19 treatment. His initial hearing loss was evaluated at the bedside with a tuning fork examination showing negative Rinne’s test on the side of reported hearing loss, and Weber’s test lateralizing to the side opposite to his hearing loss, which is consistent with SNHL of the affected side. He then had a 7 day treatment course of 60mg oral Prednisone daily in addition to a series of intratympanic steroid injection. His hearing loss was documented with elevated hearing thresholds of 65, 75, 75, and 85 dB at 2, 3, 4, and 6 kHz.
    As multiple countries across all continents are facing the effects of the pandemic, our understanding of the various immediate and long-term complications of COVID-19 is evolving. SNHL is one of these complications. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has developed a Brighton Collaboration case definition of SNHL to be utilized in the evaluation of adverse events following immunization, which can also be...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.