Health-related quality of life in elderly hearing aid users vs. non-users

Publication date: Available online 8 December 2017
Source:Egyptian Journal of Ear, Nose, Throat and Allied Sciences
Author(s): Eman A. Said
Background and aimPresbycusis, is usually a harbinger of aging. The negative consequences are not limited to an auditory impairment but influences a range of psychosocial and physical health concerns. The cornerstone of audiologic intervention is the use hearing aids. Optimal management should include an evaluation of quality of life (QoL) status and its assessment. Aim of this work: To quantify the quality of life of hearing impaired elderly individuals (HIEI) and to assess hearing aids impact on QoL.SubjectsElderly patients (1 2 7) above 60 years had sensorineural hearing loss ranged from mild to severe degree of hearing loss, only 24 of them (21.1%) were fitted with monaural hearing aid.MethodsEach subject of this study underwent basic audiologic evaluation, speech perception in noise, aided tonal sound field threshold and aided speech tests. Generic WHOQOL-BREF and hearing handicap inventory for the elderly (HHIE).ResultsThere were significant lower aided tonal sound field thresholds (ATSFTs) at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz of hearing aid users when compared with values of non-users at all tested frequencies. Hearing aid users perform better in all domains of WHO QOL-BREF with significant reductions in emotional, social and total scores of HHIE in users group compared with non-users indicated improvement in their QOL. There were no significant differences between scores of males and scores of females. The severity of the hearing loss had statistically significant effects on these scores for non-users but not in users group.



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Unusual pathological fracture of the clavicle revealing primary hyperparathyroidism: a case report

Primary hyperparathyroidism revealed by a pathological fracture is very uncommon; in the majority of cases the discovery of lytic bone lesions on imaging examinations evokes in the clinician first a neoplastic...

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Severe drug-induced kidney injury in acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis

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Association of HLA-DQB1*03:03 with pityriasis rosea in Chinese patients

Summary

Background

The association of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) with a variety of diseases has been described, especially with various autoimmune diseases. However, there are few studies on the association between HLA and pityriasis rosea (PR).

Aim

To investigate the relevance of HLA II alleles with the development of PR.

Methods

Typing for HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 typing was performed in 55 patients with PR and 90 healthy controls (HCs), using sequence-based typing (SBT) and PCR with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP), respectively.

Results

We found that the frequency of HLA-DQB1*03:03 was significantly higher in the PR compared with the HC group [P = 0.001; relative risk (RR) = 2.24; 95% CI 1.38–3.6], while suggestive evidence for a protective effect of HLA-DQB1*06:06 was observed in the study cohort (P < 0.02; RR = 0.40; 95% CI 0.17–0.90).

Conclusions

The HLA-DQB1*03:03 allele may be a susceptible factor in patients with PR. In addition, the association of HLA-DQB1*03:03 with PR suggests participation of immunity in the pathogenesis of PR.

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Dabrafenib-induced pemphigoid-like reaction

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Lichen planus in a patient treated with pembrolizumab for metastatic malignant melanoma

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Effect of age and body mass index on the yield of stromal vascular fraction

Summary

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of age, body mass index, and site of liposuction on the cell yield of SVF.

Methods

A prospective study was performed on 58 patients. The average age was 39 years old, with BMI ≤ 25 or BMI ≥ 25. Fat tissue was harvested from the abdominal region, flanks, or thighs and SVF was isolated.

Results

The yield of viable SVF was evaluated by trypan blue, and the markers of stem cells were evaluated by flow cytometry. The cells were positive for stem cells markers, the age, sex of the patient had no impact on SVF cell yield with an average of 1.17 × 10^8. However, the BMI > 25 had resulted in higher cell numbers, and the harvest site had a significant impact on cell yield with abdomen being the site of interest.

Conclusion

These data demonstrate that the age of the person does not affect the cell yield of SVF; nevertheless, the donor site and BMI might be important factors in affecting cell number.

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