Audiological Evaluation of Patients Taking Kanamycin for Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis

Introduction: The incidence of multidrug resistant tuberculosis is increasing in developing countries. Aminoglycosides are an integral part of second-line drugs, however ototoxicity is a major limitation for their use. This study aims to determine the extent of hearing loss in patients taking one of the commonly prescribed drugs for Multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), Kanamycin, at a Government Medical College, Patiala, Punjab, India, which is a 1200 bed tertiary care hospital.  Materials and Methods: A total of 100 patients (68 males and 32 females) with confirmed diagnosis of MDR-TB were included in this study conducted between January 2012 and February 2014. Subjects were between 15 to 60 years of age, with a mean age of 37.46 ± 10.1. Pure tone audiometry (PTA) was performed before the start of the therapy, as a baseline, and was repeated after 1 week and 6 weeks of Kanamycin use to assess hearing loss as an effect of therapy.  Results: Of the 100 patients examined, ototoxicity was found in 18 subjects post therapy. Incidence of high frequency hearing loss was 2% at week 1, and 12% after 6 weeks of follow up. However, 4% of the cases developed flat loss at week 6. The hearing loss was bilateral in 13 patients and unilateral in 5 patients. Ototoxicity was more common in males (66.67%) compared to females (33.3%). Maximum cases were found in the age group of 36 to 45 years (36.8%), the majority being from a rural background (83.3%). The association with socioeconomic status (P=0.024) and co-morbid conditions like diabetes and hypertension (P=0.001) reached statistical significance.  Conclusion:  Lack of specific guidelines to monitor patients taking aminoglycosides makes ototoxicity a major adverse effect of their use in MDR-TB. More studies are mandated to study the risk factors associated with the development of ototoxicity and for the development of alternate drugs for the treatment of MDR-TB.