Purpose of the study: Epilepsy is a chronic medical disease in one third of patients. Chronic
epilepsy and its antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) therapy are commonly associated with comorbid
adverse somatic conditions. This study aimed to evaluate auditory function in patients with idiopathic
epilepsy and on treatment with carbamazepine (CBZ).
Methods: This is a cross-sectional case-control study. It included 50 patients with idiopathic epilepsy
(mean age ¼ 34.56 ± 7.11 and duration of illness ¼ 17.84 ± 7.21years) and 40 healthy subjects.
Hearing was evaluated using pure tone audiometry and brainstem auditory evoked
potentials (BAEPs) analyses.
Results: Mild bilateral hearing impairment and abnormal acoustic reflex (but normal tympanometry)
were reported in more than one third of patients. Compared to controls, BAEPs of patients
had prolonged waves I, III, V latencies and I–III, III–V and I–V interpeak latencies (IPLs) particularly
at high repetition frequencies. Significant correlations were identified between CBZ dose, serum
level and duration of treatment with waves I, III and V and I–III, III–V and I–V latencies at high
repetition frequencies.
Conclusions: Long-term treatment with CBZ may result in delayed auditory conduction within
the peripheral pathways and brainstem. This should be taken into account during drug selection
and monitoring of patients with epilepsy.
Abbreviations: GTC: generalized tonic clonic; TLE: temporal lobe epilepsy; PTA: pure tone audiometry;
BAEPs: brainstem auditory evoked potentials; IPL: interpeak latency