Effectiveness of oral corticosteroids (prednisolone) in sensorineural hearing loss post COVID-19

BACKGROUND: Numerous infections can result in neurological symptoms, including anosmia, facial paralysis, and abrupt sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). During the earlier SARS pandemic, coronaviruses were linked to a loss of smell and taste due to brain damage. PURPOSE: To clinically detect corticosteroid treatment effectiveness in SSNHL post-COVID-19 infection and to detect the factors that affect the prognosis for these patients for better diagnosis and earlier management. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Subjects included 20 subjects diagnosed by PCR as COVID-19 virus positive, complaining of sudden onset hearing loss post viral infection in different durations. All subjects had basic audiological evaluation done pre-treatment and repeated after 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month after treatment with methylprednisolone 21-acetate tablets. RESULTS: Onset of hearing loss post-COVID infection ranged from 1 to 3 months. As regards the improvement recognized with treatment course, thirteen patients (65%) of all twenty patients showed complete improvement at 1 month after starting treatment, and seven patients (35%) showed no improvement even after 1 month. CONCLUSION: SSNHL has been widely recognized in the context of COVID-19 to date. Early corticosteroid therapy could help in the recovery of hearing, especially if the beginning of therapy was early in the first 2 weeks.