The value of inflammatory biomarkers in the occurrence and prognosis of sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is one of the common emergencies in otorhinolaryngology. Several studies have shown that chronic inflammation is associated with its onset and prognosis. However, the association between some inflammatory biomarkers and SSNHL is still unclear. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to explore the value of inflammatory biomarkers in the occurrence and prognosis of SSNHL.

METHODS

Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane and Web of Science databases were searched comprehensively, the eligible literatures were screened out by formulating the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. After extracting sample size, mean and standard deviation, we performed meta-analysis with standardized mean deviation (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) as effect sizes.

RESULTS

A total of 17 articles were included in this meta-analysis, including 2852 subjects, 1423 patients and 1429 healthy controls. The results of meta-analysis showed that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) of the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group (SMD = 1.05, 95% CI 0.87-1.24, P < 0.001), the NLR of the recovery group was significantly lower than the unrecovered group (SMD = 0.68, 95% CI 0.27-1.08, P < 0.05); The platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) of the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group (SMD = 0.55, 95% CI 0.34-0.76, P < 0.05), the PLR of the recovery group was significantly lower than the unrecovered group (SMD = 0.44, 95% CI 0.05-0.82, P < 0.05); The C-reactive protein-to-serum albumin ratio (CRP/Alb) of the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group (SMD = 0.39, 95% CI 0.04-0.74, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that high NLR, PLR, and CRP/Alb indicated the occurrence of SSNHL, NLR and PLR could predict prognosis of SSNHL.