Audiovestibular disorders in SARS-CoV-2 infection

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 illness is a disease caused by the appearance in 2019 of a new pandemic viral strain, SARS-CoV-2. At the beginning of the pandemic, it mainly caused severe respiratory disorders, often leading to the patient’s death and attracting scholars’ attention. After observing the possibility that taste and smell disorders could be comorbidities or even clinical precursors of COVID-19, the concentration of scholars has expanded to many other clinical signs, such as audiovestibular disorders. We present a mini review of the international literature centred on audiovestibular disorders to verify our achieved certainties. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We have collected scientific articles searched through an online search of the PubMed and Google Scholar databases from 2020 to 2023 having as key word “audiovestibular disorders.” From the data collected, it is possible to say that a relationship exists with confidence between the disease and audiovestibular disorders. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: We have collected in August 2023, we found 210 scientific articles, 36 in PubMed and 174 in Google Scholar, focused on audiovestibular disorders. After excluding the articles that did not meet the criteria adopted, we took into consideration 18 articles that allowed us to observe how much COVID-19 interfered with audiovestibular aspects, which we exposed in individual specific chapters. CONCLUSIONS: The statistical data are often different, probably for the different numerosity of samples used. The only certainty is that the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects directly the hair cells of the inner ear and that, for this reason, it could damage it. It remains to understand why, if the damage is direct, the cases of hearing loss are so sporadic.