AUDIÇÃO E EQUILÍBRIO DURANTE A GESTAÇÃO - UFSM

AUDITORY EVALUATION AND BODY BALANCE ASSESSMENT DURING
7.2 Summary
PREGNANCY
INTRODUCTION: hormonal dysfunctions in women during pregnancy can
cause vestibular and/or cochlear disorders. Besides this, postural changes during
pregnancy lead to alterations in body balance. OBJECTIVE: to examine the
occurrence of auditory and vestibular alterations as well as to assess body balance in
pregnant women. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 50 pregnant women that were tested
with Dynamic Posturography and, among these study participants, 20 underwent
auditory and vestibular evaluation. In order to compare the results for Dynamic
Posturography it was used a control group of 59 women. To compare the results for
gestational trimesters, the participants were divided in groups according to their
gestational age. RESULTS: considering static and dynamic balance, we found
significant alterations in the Unterberger test and in the examination of gait.
According to the auditory evaluation, most of the pregnant women presented normal
examination, but it was found a decrease in the 250 Hz frequency. The vestibular test
did not show significant alterations. The Dynamic Posturography showed alterations
in body balance when the women were compared to the control group, without
differences among the periods of pregnancy. CONCLUSION: during pregnancy,
women suffer alterations in the body balance and the vestibular examination as well
as the auditory evaluation can present alterations.
Keywords: dizziness, hearing, inner ear, pregnancy, sexual hormones.
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