title: Hearing impairment in pregnancy toxemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Preeclampsia, characterized by widespread endothelial damage and dysfunction, systemic toxicity, coagulation defects, and an increased systemic inflammatory response, poses some risk factors for hearing loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two groups with 37 preeclamptic and 38 healthy pregnant women were matched by age. Other factors that could possibly influence hearing were ruled out. Transient otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) was carried out for both groups before delivery and was repeated two weeks after delivery in cases of failure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We could not find any abnormality in the healthy pregnant women who underwent the TEOAE test, but five of the preeclamptic women failed the initial test before delivery. This condition was recovered two weeks later. Statistical analysis showed significant difference (TEOAE disturbances) between the two groups (P = 0.025).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that pregnancy toxemia might have effects on hearing abilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Imam Reza Educational Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. mehbakhsh@yahoo.com <mehbakhsh@yahoo.com>
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bakhshaee
authors.forename: Malihe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassanzadeh
authors.forename: Navid
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nourizadeh
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.forename: Toktam
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moghiman
authors.forename: Mohammadtaghi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shakeri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011247:Pregnancy