Otologic dysfunction in patients with COVID‐19: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE: To describe otologic dysfunction in patients with the novel SARS‐CoV‐2. REVIEW METHODS: Search strategies acquired for each database included keywords. The keywords use were—Otologic OR Vestibular OR Audiologic and COVID‐19 OR Coronavirus OR SARS‐CoV‐2. Resulting articles were imported into a systematic review software and screened for appropriateness. To be eligible for inclusion in the analysis, the studies and case reports should have met the following criteria: i. Description of otologic dysfunction in COVID‐19 patients; ii. peer review. Studies were excluded if: i. the description of the specific dysfunction was inadequate; ii. there were no original case descriptions. Data that met the inclusion criteria was extracted and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 62 articles were identified and screened, seven articles met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The articles were mainly case reports (5) with 2 case series. There were 28 patients in total identified with the largest study comprising 20 patients. All patients presented with hearing loss, 27 of whom had audiometry. Three patients had associated vestibular symptoms (vertigo, otalgia, and tinnitus). CONCLUSION: SARS‐CoV‐2 is a probable cause of middle ear infections and sensorineural hearing loss, secondary to spread of the novel virus into the middle ear and related neural structures.