Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a rare medical condition that needs urgent treatment. We do not have good information on how many people experience sudden sensorineural hearing loss each year and how many people are living with permanent hearing loss as a result of this condition. Current clinical guidelines say that patients whose hearing changes suddenly and who report this to their GP should be sent to hospital urgently. We do not know if people go to their GP with this condition and, if they do, if their GP sends them to hospital and what treatment they then receive. This proposal aims to better understand: (a) how to find people with sudden sensorineural hearing loss in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink database; (b) how often people experience sudden sensorineural hearing loss and how this varies over time and across different patient characteristics; (c) how, where, and when people with sudden sensorineural hearing loss are treated; and (d) in how many cases does their hearing not recover and require further care.
The aim of this study is to characterise the incidence and management of sudden sensorineural hearing loss in primary and secondary care. Using HES-linked CPRD data, a code list for identifying sudden sensorineural hearing loss cases will be used to estimate the incidence of the condition by age, gender, geographic area, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and aetiology. Descriptive analyses will summarise the rates and timing of referral of incident cases to ENT services, rates of treatment with steroids in the primary care setting, and rates of re-presentation for the management of any resulting permanent hearing loss including subsequent onward referral to audiology services. Questionnaires to GPs will validate the coding strategy used to identify incident cases and gather further confirmatory information on treatment and referral events. Analyses of linked HES data will identify treatment episodes in the secondary care setting and the use of imaging for diagnostic purposes.
Sudden hearing loss
Padraig Kitterick - Chief Investigator - University of Nottingham
Padraig Kitterick - Corresponding Applicant - University of Nottingham
David Baguley - Collaborator - University of Nottingham
Joe West - Collaborator - University of Nottingham
Lu Ban - Collaborator - University of Nottingham
HES Accident and Emergency;HES Admitted Patient Care;HES Diagnostic Imaging Dataset;HES Outpatient;Practice Level Index of Multiple Deprivation