Hearing status in children with frequently relapsing and steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome

• Published in: Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, West) West), 2013-03, Vol.28 (3), p.439-445
• Main Authors: Saha, Abhijeet, Gupta, Vivek, Kapoor, Kanika, Dubey, N. K., Lal, Priti, Sidhu, T. S., Batra, V. V., Upadhyay, A. D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Audiometry; Audiometry, Pure-Tone; Auditory Threshold; Biomarkers - blood; Bone Conduction; Branchio-Oto-Renal syndrome; Calcium - blood; Care and treatment; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child, Preschool; Complications and side effects; Creatinine; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diseases; Diuretics - adverse effects; Dosage and administration; Enrollments; Furosemide - adverse effects; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - blood; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - diagnosis; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - etiology; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - physiopathology; Humans; Hypocalcemia; Hypocalcemia - blood; Hypocalcemia - complications; Kidney diseases; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nephrology; Nephrotic syndrome; Nephrotic Syndrome - blood; Nephrotic Syndrome - complications; Nephrotic Syndrome - congenital; Nephrotic Syndrome - drug therapy; Original Article; Pediatrics; Prednisolone; Recurrence; Relapse; Remission (Medicine); Risk Factors; Severity of Illness Index; Steroids; Urology
• ISSN: 0931-041X; 1432-198X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00467-012-2358-7

Background Children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) are at risk of hearing impairment due to nephrotoxic drugs and biochemical impairments. Methods Forty children with INS aged 5–16 years [20 patients with frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome (FRNS)/steroid dependent nephrotic syndrome (SDNS) and 20 with steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS)] and 20 normal healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Pure tone audiometry was done using the ALPS AD 2000 audiometer. Sensorineural hearing loss was diagnosed when the bone conduction level was >20 dB and the difference in air to bone gap was ≤15 dB. Based on the air conduction (AC) threshold, deafness was graded into the following categories: mild (26–40 dB), moderate (41–55 dB), moderately severe (56-70 dB), severe (71–91 dB) and profound (>91 dB). Results Children with FRNS/SDNS had a higher threshold for hearing at frequencies of 250 and 500 Hz, respectively, than the controls. Of the children in the FRNS/SDNS category, three (15 %) had mild sensorineural hearing impairment. These children had a low serum calcium level ( P