Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SShl) diagnostic delay during COViD-19 pandemic: a single-center retrospective study

BaCKgrOUND: the COViD-19 pandemic caused a diagnostic delay in various conditions, including sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SShl). the aim of this study was to investigate whether during the COViD-19 emergency period patients with a diagnosis of SShl received a late diagnosis and if any delay resulted in a worse post-therapy outcome. MEthODS: a retrospective study was conducted. Patients who received a diagnosis of SShl during COViD-19 period and in the same period of the previous year were identified (control group); demographic and clinical data, values of the tonal threshold at the time of diagnosis (T0) and after therapy (t1) and the recovery rate were collected. rESUltS: Sixteen patients of group 1 (control group) and 11 of group 2 (COViD-19 period) met the inclusion criteria. Diagnosis and therapy were performed on average after 1.69 days in group 1, after 5.45 days from the onset of symptoms in group 2 (P=0.0025). after therapy, the audiometric control examination showed an average threshold recovery of 26.77 dB in group 1 and 20.53 dB in group 2 (P=0.048). in group 1, 62.5% experienced recovery of the hearing threshold while in group 2 only 36.4% (P=0.252). CONClUSiONS: Despite therapy starting time was inevitably different in analyzed groups, diagnostic delay during COViD-19 emergency period resulted in a reduced improvement in the mean tonal threshold after therapy. Our data seems to confirm the hypothesis that early diagnosis and treatment are associated with a higher probability of auditory recovery.