OHNS: the risk of hearing loss increases fourfold in people with type 2 diabetes.
A new study published in the journal Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) has shown that people with type 2 diabetes have a risk of hearing loss more than four times higher than that of healthy individuals. An analysis of data from 17 studies involving nearly eight thousand participants revealed that hearing impairments occur in 40-70 percent of patients with diabetes.
The greatest deviations are observed at high frequencies, where the average hearing levels in diabetic patients were worse than those of the control group by 3.2 decibels. Scientists from the University of Barcelona found that the risk significantly increases with the long-term course of the disease—over ten years—as well as with high levels of HbA1c, indicating a link between hearing loss and poor blood sugar control.
Researchers suggest that chronic hyperglycemia causes microvascular changes in the inner ear: thickening of the basement membrane, deterioration of cochlear nutrition, and gradual atrophy of the stria vascularis. These processes disrupt the functioning of auditory receptors, leading to a gradual but irreversible loss of hearing.
The authors emphasize that hearing deterioration may be an early sign of vascular complications of diabetes and propose including hearing checks in standard patient examinations. In their opinion, early diagnosis will help not only preserve hearing but also timely identify other hidden consequences of the disease.
It was previously reported that one of the main causes of obesity and type 2 diabetes may be the accumulation of aging cells that disrupt metabolism.
