# Prevalence of hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo and sudden deafness among patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis

## TL;DR

This study finds that patients with polymyositis or dermatomyositis are more likely to experience hearing-related issues like tinnitus and vertigo compared to others.

## Contribution

The study is the first to use a nationwide dataset to show a higher prevalence of inner ear symptoms in polymyositis/dermatomyositis patients.

## Key findings

- Patients with PM/DM had higher rates of tinnitus, non-conductive hearing loss, and vertigo.
- Adjusted odds ratios showed statistically significant increases for these inner ear symptoms in PM/DM patients.
- The study used a large, population-based dataset to compare PM/DM patients with matched controls.

## Abstract

Little is known about a possible association of autoimmune inner ear disease among patients diagnosed with polymyositis (PM)/dermatomyositis (DM). This study aimed to explore differences in the prevalence of inner ear symptoms among patients with and without PM/DM using a nationwide population-based dataset. Data for this study were retrieved from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The study sample included 1622 patients diagnosed with PM/DM and 8109 propensity-score matched comparison patients without PM/DM. We performed multivariate logistic regressions to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for tinnitus, hearing loss, sudden deafness, and vertigo among patients with PM/DM versus comparison patients. Chi-square tests showed statistically significant differences between patients with PM/DM and comparison patients in the prevalence of tinnitus (16.1% vs. 12.7%, p < 0.001), non-conductive hearing loss (9.2% vs. 6.8%, p < 0.001), and vertigo (14.4% vs. 11.1%, p < 0.001). The adjusted ORs for tinnitus, non-conductive hearing loss, and vertigo, respectively, were 1.332 (95% CI = 1.147–1.547), 1.399 (95% CI = 1.154–1.696), and 1.374 (95% CI = 1.173–1.611) for patients with PM/DM when compared to comparison patients. Our study finds that patients with PM/DM have higher prevalence rates of tinnitus, non-conductive hearing loss, and vertigo than comparison patients.