title: Reversible hearing loss after meningitis. Prospective assessment using auditory evoked responses.
abstract: Hearing loss (HL) was prospectively studied in 236 children with meningitis using brainstem auditory evoked responses. Hearing loss was detected in 38 (16.1%) in the acute phase of the disease and in 10 (5.2%) of 193 patients who were tested 6 months later. Hearing loss was more frequent and more severe in patients with bacterial meningitis (25.4% in the acute phase, and 8% 6 months later) than in patients with viral and tuberculous meningitis. In half of the affected cases the auditory lesion was bilateral. Follow-up was possible in 32 patients with early postmeningitic HL. Ten (31.2%) had permanent HL while the remaining 22 (68.7%) recovered normal hearing. Severe initial losses tended to be permanent, whereas minimal and intermediate losses were generally reversible and patients recovered completely in 1 to 6 months. The high incidence of HL in bacterial meningitis suggests that any one of the existing methods of auditory screening should be performed in all patients during the convalescent period.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D001299:Audiometry; D001300:Audiometry, Evoked Response; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000150:complications*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors