Abstract:
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.
