Progressive high frequency hearing loss: an additional feature in the syndrome of congenital adrenal hypoplasia and gonadotrophin deficiency

Abstract

In an earlier report, we found that X-linked congenital adrenal hypoplasia may be associated with gonadotrophin deficiency. This combination has since been confirmed by many others. At the last examination, our patients were 22.4, 19.9 and 17.5 years old. They were doing well on replacement therapy with hydrocortisone, fluorohydrocortisone, and long-acting testosterone, but in all of them, a progressive hearing loss had appeared, starting at high frequencies at about 14 years of age. The loss progressed with age to lower frequencies, and the oldest patient had some remaining hearing capacity at 125-500 Hz only with a perceptive hearing loss of -95 dB at frequencies above 500 Hz. It is concluded that patients with this syndrome should be examined for hearing loss. X-linked adrenal hypoplasia may also be associated with glycerol kinase deficiency and myopathy. A molecular XP-deletion has suggested a locus for hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism distal to the glycerol kinase and adrenal hypoplasia loci. The observations in our patients suggest that the locus for at least this type of X-linked deafness may be in the same area.