Pure tone audiometry in iron deficient anaemic children

To study the effect of Iron deficiency anaemia on pure tone audiometry in children of age gp 5–12 yrs, 50 Anaemic children having Hb<12gm/dl were taken as cases and 30 healthy children were taken as controls. Anaemics were further divided in mild, moderate and severe anaemics. Recording was done by RMS Audiometry Platform version 1.0.0.390. The statistical significance of difference between groups was evaluated using unpaired student's t test. The hearing threshold values were more in all anaemic groups as compared to controls for both air and bone conduction but values were not statistically significant except at some higher frequencies. In left ear, significant change(P<0.05) was observed in air conduction values at 500 and 4k Hz while in right ear, significant changes were observed in air conduction value at 2k Hz and bone conduction value at 4k Hz while in right ear, significant changes were observed in air conduction value at 2k Hz and bone conduction value at 4k Hz. The results of the present study didn't support any significant hearing loss due to iron deficiency Anaemia but it can be said that there should be an increased awareness in the medical fraternity and the population in general, of the deleterious effects of iron deficiency.