What is it about?
A survey questionnaire about symptoms and experiences was distributed to people who had experienced vestibular damage from gentamicin through a support group and through links on VEDA. People described a wide range of impairment levels, including hearing loss, tinnitus, loss of ability to walk without aid, visual disturbances, and cognitive impairment. We used the World Health Organization's disability evaluation and the another questionnaire on cognitive impairment to see if we could measure how much impact this damage had on daily life.
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Why is it important?
Patients damaged by gentamicin often complain of more symptoms than their physicians are aware of. Cognitive impairment can be mild and caused by visual disturbances, which make it hard to read; some researchers suggested too much focus is on balance, making it hard to take in other information, and patients complain that the drug has damaged them in some other way. One of the purposes of this study was to call attention to this deficit. Many participants reported losing their jobs, their independence, and even their ability to enjoy social relationships due to damage from this drug, so we wanted to call attention to the need for safer dosing and carefully monitoring of patients while receiving this medication.
Perspectives
I became interested in this topic because my late husband, Gerald F. Kerlin, was impaired by intravenous dosing of gentamicin. There was a great deal of misunderstanding between us and physicians initially about the damage the drug may have caused. We wanted to help other patients who struggle to deal with similar side effects.
Dr. Ann M Kerlin
Luther Rice College & Seminary
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Disability Levels and Cognitive Functioning Reported by Patients Impaired by Gentamicin and Other Aminoglycosides, SAGE Open, April 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/2158244017709323.
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