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. 2008 Oct;3(4):128-34.
doi: 10.4103/1817-1737.42271.

Evaluation of brain stem auditory evoked potentials in stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Prem Parkash Gupta  1 , Sushma Sood, Atulya Atreja, Dipti Agarwal
Affiliations

Evaluation of brain stem auditory evoked potentials in stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Prem Parkash Gupta et al. Ann Thorac Med. 2008 Oct.

Abstract

Though there are few studies addressing brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), subclinical BAEP abnormalities in stable COPD patients have not been studied. The present study aimed to evaluate the BAEP abnormalities in this study group.

Materials and methods: In the present study, 80 male subjects were included: COPD group comprised 40 smokers with stable COPD with no clinical neuropathy; 40 age-matched healthy volunteers served as the control group. Latencies of BAEP waves I, II, III, IV, and V, together with interpeak latencies (IPLs) of I-III, I-V, and III-V, and amplitudes of waves I-Ia and V-Va were studied in both the groups to compare the BAEP abnormalities in COPD group; the latter were correlated with patient characteristics and Mini-Mental Status Examination Questionnaire (MMSEQ) scores to seek any significant correlation.

Results: Twenty-six (65%) of the 40 COPD patients had BAEP abnormalities. We observed significantly prolonged latencies of waves I, III, V over left ear and waves III, IV, V over right ear; increased IPLs of I-V, III-V over left ear and of I-III, I-V, III-V over right side. Amplitudes of waves I-Ia and V-Va were decreased bilaterally. Over left ear, the latencies of wave I and III were significantly correlated with FEV(1); and amplitude of wave I-Ia, with smoking pack years. A weak positive correlation between amplitude of wave I-Ia and duration of illness; and a weak negative correlation between amplitude of wave V-Va and MMSEQ scores were seen over right side.

Conclusions: We observed significant subclinical BAEP abnormalities on electrophysiological evaluation in studied stable COPD male patients having mild-to-moderate airflow obstruction.

Keywords: Brainstem auditory evoked potentials; Mini–Mental Status Examination; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; correlation analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Brainstem auditory evoked potentials wave pattern over right ear of a healthy volunteer. Wave I and IPL of I-III represent the peripheral part of the pathway; whereas wave III and IPL of III-V, the central part
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scattered plot diagram showing a negative correlation between FEV1 and latency of wave 1 of BAEP wave pattern recorded over left ear in COPD patients
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scattered plot diagram illustrating a negative correlation between FEV1 and latency of wave III of BAEP wave pattern recorded over left ear in COPD patients
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scattered plot diagram showing a weak negative correlation was observed between smoking pack years and amplitude of wave I-Ia of BAEP wave pattern recorded over left ear in COPD patients
Figure 5
Figure 5
Scattered plot diagram showing a positive correlation was seen between duration of illness [due to COPD] and amplitude of wave I-Ia of BAEP wave pattern recorded over right ear in COPD patients
Figure 6
Figure 6
Scattered plot diagram showing a weak negative correlation between Mini–Mental Status Examination Questionnaire scores and amplitude of wave V-Va of BAEP wave pattern recorded over right ear in COPD patients
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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