section name header

Evidence summaries

Oral Steroids in Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

The efficacy of steroids in the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss is unclear. Level of evidence: "D"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 3 studies with a total of 253 subjects. One trial (n=21) showed a lack of effect of oral steroids in improving hearing compared with the placebo control group (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.85). The second trial (n=129) showed a significant improvement of hearing in 61% of the patients receiving oral steroid and in only 32% of the patients from the control group (RR 1.30, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.86). The third trial (n=103) also showed a lack of effect of oral steroids in improving hearing compared with the placebo control. Only one study declared that no patients suffered from adverse effects of the steroid treatment.

Comment:The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (inadequate allocation concealment), imprecise results (limited study size for each comparison) and inconsistency (heterogeneity in patients and interventions).

    References

    • Wei BP, Stathopoulos D, O'Leary S. Steroids for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013;7():CD003998. [PubMed].

Primary/Secondary Keywords