Depression in Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media: A Complication Brewing Unnoticed

Introduction: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is a chronic infection of the middle ear cleft with a permanent perforation resulting in mucopurulent discharge and may include otalgia or fever, vertigo, hearing loss, and tinnitus. These compromise the quality of life of CSOM patients and affect their social communication and professional life also, which may induce social withdrawal and depression. Materials & methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of ENT, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Research Institute (IGMC&RI), Pondicherry, India, from May 2019 to May 2020. CSOM patients fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for the study.The association of disease characteristics and hearing loss was evaluated by the Spearman correlation test. Correlation of variables such as age, sex, type of disease, laterality hearing loss type, and severity with respect to depression was done using Chi-square test. Results: One hundred forty-two participants were recruited for this study, the majority being females (65%) the mean age being 44.08 years ± SD 15. The safe type of CSOM (tubotympanic disease) was common among the participants (96%) with unilateral disease (78%) more predominating and left side being most frequently (58%). There was a significant and linear correlation of depression and hearing loss to the duration of the disease.