MONDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- Hearing impairment may be a
common, under-recognized complication of diabetes, suggests a U.S.
study.
"We found that hearing loss was much more common in people with
diabetes than people without the disease. The hearing loss we
detected did not seem to be caused by other factors such as
exposure to loud noises, certain medicines, and smoking," lead
researcher Kathleen E. Bainbridge said in a prepared statement.
She and her colleagues analyzed data from 5,140 people, ages 20
to 69, who completed a hearing test and a diabetes questionnaire as
part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from
1999 to 2004.
The age-adjusted prevalence of low- or mid-frequency hearing
impairment of mild or greater severity in the ear with the worst
hearing was 21.3 percent among the 399 adults with diabetes
compared to 9.4 percent among the 4,741 adults without
diabetes.
The age-adjusted prevalence of high-frequency hearing impairment
of mild or greater severity in the ear with the worst hearing was
54.1 percent among adults with diabetes and 32 percent among those
without diabetes.
Diabetes can damage small blood vessels and nerves in the
body.
"It is possible that high blood sugar levels damage the small
blood vessels and nerves of the inner ear, resulting in hearing
impairment. People with diabetes might benefit from having their
hearing checked," Bainbridge said.
The study was published on the Web site of the journal
Annals of Internal Medicine.
The editors of the journal noted that diabetes was self-reported
by the people in this study and was verified in only a small
percentage of participants. In addition, the researchers didn't
distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and participants
self-reported their history of noise exposure.
More information
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has more about
hearing loss.
