Impact of drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment on hearing function in South African adults: Bedaquiline versus kanamycin.
Katijah Khoza-Shangase, Marina Prodromos
PMID 33567829WHAT IT FOUND
Adults on kanamycin showed progressive hearing loss and tinnitus, while those on bedaquiline showed no significant hearing changes.
This supports bedaquiline as a safer option for preserving hearing in drug-resistant TB treatment.
Key findings
01Patients on kanamycin experienced clinically and statistically significant high-frequency hearing loss over time, with threshold shifts worsening across sessions.
02Patients on bedaquiline showed no clinically or statistically significant changes in hearing thresholds across all frequencies tested.
03Tinnitus was reported by 40% of patients on kanamycin compared to only 7% of patients on bedaquiline.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was very small (15 per group), limiting the generalisability of the findings. The retrospective design meant researchers could not control data collection or ensure complete standardisation of testing protocols across all records. The study excluded patients with unreliable audiometric responses, which may introduce selection bias. Concurrent treatments were not fully detailed in the summary, though the design compared specific drug regimens.
Declared interests
No specific funding sources or conflicts of interest are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that bedaquiline is universally safe for hearing based on this study alone. The sample size was small (15 patients per group) and the design was retrospective, meaning these findings suggest a trend rather than proving definitive safety across all populations.