Otological findings in pediatric patients with hypogammaglobulinemia.

The  main  clinical presentation  of  patients  with  primary antibody  deficiency (PAD) incorporates upper respiratory tract infections comprising otitis media, sinusitis and pneumonia.  This  study  was  designed  to  investigate clinical and  paraclinical otological complications in major types of PAD.  A cross sectional study was conducted on 55 PAD patients with diagnosis of selective IgA deficiency, common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA), and hyper IgM syndrome. All patients underwent otological examinations, audiometry, and auditory brain stem response.  Otological complications were detected in 54.5% of PAD patients. Conductive hearing loss was the main finding amongst PID patients (73.3%) followed by sensorineural hearing loss which was present in 8 cases. Otitis media with effusion (21.8%), chronic otitis media (27.2%), tympanosclerosis with intact tympanic membrane (5.4%) and auditory neuropathy (3.6%)  were  most   important   found complications.  CVID   and   XLA  patients   with prophylactic usage of antibiotics had lower rate of audiological complications (p=0.04) and otitis media with effusion (p=0.027). As our results showed, asymptomatic otological findings were not rare in PAD patients; therefore, a systematic otological investigation is recommended as an integral part of the management and follow-up of these patients.