Hearing Function in Adults with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Scoping Review for Preventive Audiology Planning.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease which affects the joints and bones of individuals diagnosed with this condition. Little remains known about the possible impact of this disease on hearing function, particularly the possibilities of preventive audiology in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). The study aimed to review published evidence on hearing function in adults with RA. A scoping review of literature from January 2010 to August 2020 was conducted using Sage, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, Medline, ProQuest and Google Scholar. Studies published in English which reported on the audiological function in adult individuals with RA were included in the review. From 832 initial title records, 18 articles were included into the final scoping review. A qualitative analysis of the reviewed evidence revealed four themes: (1) hearing loss occurs-causality still unclear; (2) nature, degree and configuration of the hearing loss varies; (3) systematic and standardized assessment battery required; and (4) sensitive and specific measures for early detection needed. The occurrence of hearing loss in this population ranges between 21.3 and 66.6%, and this increased where advanced sensitive measures such as ultrahigh frequency and otoacoustic emission (OAEs) measures were included in the test battery. Many audiological tests were used in the studies in order to identify the presence and type of hearing loss in these individuals, with basic audiometry testing being the most commonly used. The most prevalent type of hearing loss was found to be a high frequency sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), with mixed (MHL) and conductive hearing losses (CHL) being present in some of the individuals. Causal links between RA and hearing loss remains unclear. Although there are limited studies which have reported on the audiological function in the population with RA, the studies which have been reviewed seem to establish an association between RA and the presence of hearing loss. The published high prevalence of hearing loss in this population, when compared to healthy control groups raises implications for well-designed studies that utilize sensitive audiologic diagnostic measures, with clear inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure more accurate causal links establishment between RA and hearing loss in this population.