Medical Conditions Related To Hearing Loss

DIABETES

A 2008 report presented in the June issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, found that people with diabetes have a much greater incidence of hearing loss than the non-diabetic population. Evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys studied 5,140 adults from 1999-2004. Adults ranged in age from 20-69 years of age. Twenty one percent of persons with diabetes were found to also have a hearing loss, compared to 9% of those without diabetes.

With increased numbers of diabetes in both children and adults, a comprehensive health assessment should include a hearing test as part of routine medical management. Patients with diabetes often suffer with heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, nervous system disease, amputations, dental disease, depression and complications in pregnancy.

CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE

A study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (2010;56:661-669) found that 54% of the 2,564 adults over the age of 50 in the Blue Mountains Hearing Study of Australia who had a moderate kidney disease had some degree of hearing loss, while 30% suffered a severe hearing loss.

“Previously, there have been studies showing that kidney function and hearing loss are linked because the kidney and the stria vascularis of the cochlea share a very similar physiological ultrastructure and have other angiogenic similarities”, said study co-author Bamini Gopinath, PhD, of the Centre for Vision Research at the University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital. “There is also evidence of multiple shared risk factors between chronic kidney disease and hearing loss, such as age, diabetes, hypertension, and medications that are both nephrotoxic, meaning they cause damage to kidneys, and also ototoxic, causing damage to the ears”.
It is important for anyone with diabetes or kidney disease to be given a formal hearing evaluation on a periodic basis.

Please call 316-634-8750 to schedule an appointment for a comprehensive hearing assessment.