EFFECT OF PREGNANCY RHINITIS ON MIDDLE EAR RESONANCE FREQUENCY: PROSPECTIVE CASE CONTROL STUDY
1Başkent Üniversitesi, KBB Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye Objective: Pregnancy rhinitis is a clinical entity characterized by the rhinitis symptoms disappearing within two weeks after delivary. Multifrequency tympanometry (MFT) is a method of analyzing tympanograms obtained with different probe tones between 226 Hz and 2000 Hz. Resonance frequency (RF) is one of the important parameter of MFT. RF can be defined as the frequency by which the middle ear transmits the most energy to the cochlea. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible effect of pregnancy rhinitis on middle ear RF.Material and Methods: Forty-five volunteers were included in the study. The first group consisted of 15 healthy individuals in the last 3 months of pregnancy and the second group consisted of 14 individuals in the last 3 months of pregnancy who were diagnosed with pregnancy rhinitis and the third group consisted of 16 healthy individuals in the same age range. Middle ear RF measurements of all participants were performed.
Results: No statistically significant difference was found between the group in terms of the mean age. Although there was no statistically significant difference between the groups, the RF values of the first and second group were lower than the control group. When the relationship between the duration of pregnancy and RF values was evaluated, there was no relationship between the duration of pregnancy and RF.
Conclusion: Pregnancy rhinitis may not be the only factor that reduces the RF value. It is necessary to work with more individuals in order to establish this relationship precisely.It is recommended to study other possible factors affecting RF during pregnancy in order to achieve more accurate results on RF changes during pregnancy. In this sense, the periodic measurement of the RF values of pregnant individuals during pregnancy will provide more meaningful results.
Keywords : Pregnancy, pregnancy rhinitis, resonance frequency, multifrequency tympanometry