Audio-vestibular disorders and pregnancy: a systematic review.

Purpose: During pregnancy a woman's body undergoes many physiological changes that involve all systems and organs, including sensory ones. We conducted this systematic review to highlight current evidence and treatment options in pregnant women with audio-vestibular disorders. Materials and methods: A search was made on the following databases: PubMed, PubMed Central, Web of Science and Scopus. This research protocol was deposited in the PROSPERO Database. Results: After application of inclusion-exclusion criteria, 30 manuscripts were included in the review. Many authors (14/15) found a slight alteration of audiometric tests during pregnancy, with a reported recovery postpartum in most of the studies (5/7). Regarding sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), we found four articles for a total of 69 patients: the treatment of choice was intravenous Dextran 40 and intra-tympanic corticosteroids. Most included studies (4/6) found neither clinical nor epidemiological associations between otosclerosis and pregnancy in large-based sample studies. Few investigations regarded Eustachian tube function and vertigo. Conclusions: According to our results, many variations of hearing acuity during pregnancy are slight and transient and require only clinical observation. In large samples, otosclerosis appeared not to be associated with pregnancy. Clinicians should consider intra-tympanic steroids in managing SSNHL during pregnancy. Further more accurate research is needed to deepen and clarify the association between pregnancy and audiovestibular disorders.