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Characteristics of sudden hearing loss after different COVID-19 vaccinations: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

COVID-19 vaccines are essential to prevent complications and reduce the burden of SARS-CoV-2. However, these vaccines showed side effects such as fatigue, pain, fever, and rarely hearing loss. In this review, we aim to summarize studies investigating hearing loss following COVID-19 vaccination and try to find the possible association and risk factors for this hazardous complication.

Methods

We performed a comprehensive search of five electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, google scholar, Cochrane) from inception until 9 October 2022. We finally included 16 studies after the first and second scans. We used SPSS to analyze the extracted data.

Results

A total of 630 patients were identified, with a mean age of 57.3. Of the patients, 328 out of 609 vaccinated patients took the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine, while 242 (40%) took the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. The mean time from vaccination to hearing impairment was 6.2, ranging from a few hours to one month after the last dose. The results found a significant difference between vaccine types in terms of incidence and prognosis of the condition, while they showed that the number of doses prior to the onset had no significance.

Conclusion

SNHL has been reported in a small number of people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine, but it is unclear at this time whether the vaccine is directly causing this condition. However, the COVID-19 vaccine has been demonstrated to be safe and effective in preventing illness, and the benefits of vaccination are significant compared to any potential risks.

Protocol registration

The protocol of this study was registered on Prospero CRD42022367180.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available as MS Excel files (.xlsx) and RevMan file (.rm5) from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

No funding was received for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan

    Khaled Albakri, Yasmeen Jamal Alabdallat & Balqees Hanaqtah

  2. Medical Research Group of Egypt, Cairo, Egypt

    Khaled Albakri, Omar Ahmed Abdelwahab, Mohamed Diaa Gabra, Mohamed H. Nafady, Yasmeen Jamal Alabdallat, Ahmed Soliman, Shirin Cadri, Balqees Hanaqtah & Ebraheem Albazee

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

    Omar Ahmed Abdelwahab

  4. Faculty of Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt

    Mohamed Diaa Gabra

  5. Faculty of Applied Health Science Technology, Misr University for Science and Technology, El Giza, Egypt

    Mohamed H. Nafady

  6. Radiation Science Department, Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

    Mohamed H. Nafady

  7. Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, 6 Al Ashqar St., Off El Gomhouria St., Mansoura, 35511, Dakahlia, Egypt

    Ahmed Soliman

  8. Research Department, Mansoura Research Team, Mansoura, Egypt

    Ahmed Soliman

  9. Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iași, Romania

    Shirin Cadri

  10. Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations, Kuwait City, Kuwait

    Ebraheem Albazee

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Contributions

EA created the idea and checked its validation, MHN and MDG did the screening, KA, and AS extract the data, YJA, BH, and SC did the quality assessment, OAA, KA, and AS wrote the manuscript, YJA did the analysis and wrote the results, and OAA and KA revised and finalized the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ahmed Soliman.

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Albakri, K., Abdelwahab, O.A., Gabra, M.D. et al. Characteristics of sudden hearing loss after different COVID-19 vaccinations: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 280, 5167–5176 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-08172-w

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