This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Osteoporosis associated with risk for sudden hearing loss
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Among adults aged at least 50 years, osteoporosis may be an independent risk factor for sudden sensory neural hearing loss, according to an analysis of Korean national health insurance data.
The prevalence of sudden sensory neural hearing loss, defined as the abrupt onset of sensorineural hearing loss, is estimated at 27 per 100,000 people in the U.S. and 15 per 100,000 people in South Korea, So Young Kim, MD, of the department of otorhinolaryngology, head and neck surgery at CHA Bundang Medical Center in Seongnam, South Korea, and colleagues wrote in the study background. Both perturbation of the perilymphatic flow of the cochlea and auditory nerve dysfunction can cause sudden sensory neural hearing loss, and more than half of cases are idiopathic, they noted.
“Many factors, such as vascular and metabolic dysfunctions, have been suggested as risk factors for [sudden sensory neural hearing loss],” the researchers wrote. “The cochlea and internal auditory nerve are encased in hard and compact petrous temporal bone. In addition, the calcium ionic flow in and stereocilia of the cochlea orchestrate their activities to maintain mechano-electrical transduction in the cochlea. Therefore, it may be that bone metabolism has a crucial impact on auditory function.”
Kim and colleagues analyzed data from 68,241 patients aged at least 50 years with a diagnosis of osteoporosis between 2002 and 2013, identified through Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service National Patient Sample data. Patients with osteoporosis were matched 1:1 with healthy controls by age, sex, income group, region of residence and medical history. Researchers assessed diagnoses of sudden sensory neural hearing loss among both groups, including only those patients who underwent an auditory exam and were treated with steroids. Researchers used Cox proportional hazard models to calculate HRs for sudden sensory neural hearing loss in osteoporosis vs. controls.
Within the cohort, 0.8% of adults in the osteoporosis group (n = 576) and 0.5% of adults in the control group (n = 360) experienced sudden sensory neural hearing loss (P < .001).
Compared with controls, adults with osteoporosis had a 40% increased risk for developing sudden sensory neural hearing loss in crude models (HR = 1.6; 95% CI, 1.4-1.83), with the risk rising after adjustment for age, sex, income group, region of residence and medical history (adjusted HR = 1.56; 95% CI, 1.37-1.78).
Researchers also observed that the risk for sudden sensory neural hearing loss in osteoporosis increased with age. In subgroup analyses, researchers found that both men and women with osteoporosis aged 50 to 60 years were at greater risk for hearing loss vs. controls; however, in adults aged at least 60 years and those aged at least 70 years, this risk persisted only in women.
The researchers noted that they could not assess the severity or treatment history of osteoporosis or the degree of hearing impairment in the cohort.
“Although high-frequency hearing has been reported to be more vulnerable to the impact of osteoporosis, in the present study, we did not analyze frequency-specific hearing impairment,” the researchers wrote. – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts