Evaluation of Hearing in Children with Metabolic Syndrome.

Objective: The frequency of metabolic syndrome is increasing in both children and adults. In addition to metabolic complications such as obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome may affect all systems of the body. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of metabolic syndrome on hearing in childhood.

Methods: A prospective, controlled study was performed on 38 obese children diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and 34 healthy children. Anthropometric measurements and biochemical studies were performed. All individuals underwent pure-tone audiometry, tympanogram, and transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) tests. The hearing thresholds of the patients were compared with healthy volunteers.

Results: There was no significant difference in terms of age and gender between the groups (p>0.05). There was no significant difference in mean hearing levels between the groups. When frequencies were compared, significantly increased hearing threshold levels were determined at low frequencies in children with metabolic syndrome. Analysis of the TEOAE results elicited no statistically significant variation in terms of signal-to-noise ratio values, signal amplitudes, or test reproducibility values between the study groups.

Conclusion: Identification of the potential hearing losses early by means of detailed hearing examinations in children with metabolic syndrome is important. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of metabolic syndrome on hearing in this age group.