Associations between hearing handicap, metabolic control and other otoneurological disturbances in individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus

To describe the auditory complaints and auditory handicaps of subjects with Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Combined cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical methodologies. 141 subjects with Type 1 diabetes mellitus were interviewed, using two protocols. The first protocol involved a brief and succinct preliminary interview, in which auditory health, demographic and epidemiological profile, glycemic control, history of the disease, family history of the disease, and auditory handicap were identified. The second protocol used was a questionnaire adapted by the researchers of this study for the evaluation of hearing handicaps in adults, from the version validated for Portuguese of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults – HHIA. Of 141 individuals, 52 (36.9 %) expressed a self-perceived hearing handicap. Individuals with a hearing handicap had a higher glycated Hb level than those without (10.85 ± 2.65 % vs. 9.4 ± 2.50, P = 0.01). Tinnitus contributed to a higher hearing handicap score (24.00 ± 20.70 vs. 13.77 ± 13.94 P < 0.01). In addition, an association was observed between dizziness and a hearing handicap (P = 0.05). Patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus present a hearing handicap of varying degrees of severity, associated with inadequate metabolic control and auditory complaints.