Audio vestibular profile of HIV positive adults

Despite HIV being a global challenge, sub-Saharan Africa continues to sustain the maximum share of the global burden of HIV. Auditory and otological manifestations is a common occurrence in individuals affected with HIV/AIDS as well as vestibular symptoms which have also been documented. The main aim of the current study was to describe and compare the profile of auditory and vestibular function as well as health-related quality of life and risk for falls in adults with HIV. This was achieved by collecting results obtained from audio and vestibular testing as well as risk for falls assessments and responses from health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire. The occurrence of hearing loss, as well as the mean threshold values obtained at all frequencies, were lower in the control group (23.3%) when compared to the HIV positive test group (41.7%) but with no statistical significance. A significantly larger occurrence of vestibular dysfunction was measured in the HIV positive test group (80%) when compared to the HIV negative test group (33.3%). There were three times more abnormal vHIT results in the HIV positive test group than the HIV negative test group as well as more absent oVEMPs in the HIV positive test group. Results obtained for fall risk assessments in all three test categories were within the norm and therefore not of clinical relevance as this indicated no impairment in balance in both test groups. It was observed that the HIV positive test group experienced more difficulty in all five health dimensions with statistically significant differences measured in four out of five health dimensions as well as in the VAS scores. To conclude, there were significantly more HIV positive individuals identified with an auditory and vestibular dysfunction when compared to the HIV negative test group. Furthermore, results also indicated that participants with HIV presented with poorer HRQoL in comparison to the HIV negative test group. Lastly, even though, overall the functional balance assessments did not yield results indicative of a risk of falls in the HIV positive test group, the HIV positive test group did present with more participants that were at a risk for falls when compared to the HIV negative test group.Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2018.Speech-Language Pathology and AudiologyMAUnrestricte

Auditory, video head impulse test and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials findings in adults with human immunodeficiency virus

OBJECTIVES : Even though there is an association between hearing loss and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), particularly in low- and middle-income countries, further research is needed to investigate the nature of such hearing loss. Likewise, despite documented vestibular alterations in people with HIV, the true occurrence, presentation, and nature of these manifestations are yet to be established. Advances in technology for vestibular testing has allowed for objective site-of-lesion tests such as the video head impulse test (vHIT), cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs) and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMPs). The current study aimed to compare and describe auditory, vHIT, cVEMPs and oVEMPs findings in adults with and without HIV. METHODS : The current study included an HIV positive group (n = 30) and an HIV negative group (n = 30) who underwent an auditory assessment (tympanometry and pure tone audiometry) and objective vestibular assessments. RESULTS : The occurrence of hearing loss was 53.3% in the HIV positive group compared to 33.3% in the HIV negative group. A higher occurrence of vestibular involvement was documented in the HIV positive group (73.3%) compared to 13.3% in the HIV negative group. CONCLUSION : Auditory assessment and objective measures of vestibular end-organ function (vHIT and VEMPs) can be useful to detect sub-clinical alterations. The equipment is mobile and can be performed in any health care setting such as infectious disease clinics for surveillance and monitoring purposes.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/anl2020-12-18hj2020Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog