title: Risk factors for sensorineural hearing loss in pediatric chronic otitis media.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the clinical significance of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in a group of pediatric patients suffering from unilateral chronic otitis media (COM) with or without cholesteatoma, using the contralateral healthy ear as a control, and to define risk factors for the development of SNHL in such patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects of this retrospective study were 124 pediatric patients with unilateral COM admitted for surgery. Mean age at surgery was 13.3±3.2 years (range, 7-18) and mean duration of the disease was 88.4±45.0 months (range, 6-192 months). The preoperative pure-tone average value (PTA) for bone conduction (BC) was calculated in each ear (BC-PTA) as the average of BC thresholds at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000Hz. Potential risk factors for SNHL that we evaluated were demographics, duration of disease, presence of cholesteatoma, and previous otologic history.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean BC-PTA values in the diseased ears prior to surgery differed significantly from those in the healthy ears (12.74±8.75dB and 9.36±6.33dB, respectively; P<0.01). The degree of SNHL in the diseased ear at 2000Hz was found to be significantly correlated with the presence of cholesteatoma and with age above 10 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One of the complications of COM, with or without cholesteatoma, in addition to the conductive hearing loss, is the development of clinically significant SNHL. It is therefore imperative to actively treat pediatric patients diagnosed with COM, with the aim of preventing the possible development of SNHL.
authors.affiliation: Ear and Hearing Program, Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Bnai-Zion Medical Center, Technion-Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: noam.yehudai@b-zion.org.il.
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yehudai
authors.affiliation: School of Education, Department of Communication Disorders, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: tovam@post.tau.ac.il.
authors.forename: Tova
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Most
authors.affiliation: Ear and Hearing Program, Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Bnai-Zion Medical Center, Technion-Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: michal.luntz@b-zion.org.il.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luntz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001844:Bone Conduction; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018424:Cholesteatoma, Middle Ear / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000150:complications*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Cholesteatoma; Chronic otitis media; Risk factors; Sensorineural hearing loss