Poorly Controlled Diabetes Can Worsen Hearing Loss

Complications from diabetes can impact hearing, and women with poorly controlled diabetes may be at higher risk for hearing loss than those who keep their blood sugar well-controlled, according to new research.

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Investigators from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit analyzed a group of 990 men and women who had hearing tests performed at the hospital between the years 2000 and 2008, separating those who had diabetes, and dividing that subgroup into those with well-controlled diabetes and those with poorly controlled diabetes. The study found women between the ages of 60 and 75 with well-controlled diabetes had hearing loss that was 14 percent worse than women in the age group who did not have diabetes. Hearing loss was 28 percent worse among women in that age group with poorly controlled diabetes.

Younger women with diabetes—regardless of how well it was managed or controlled—were more likely to experience hearing loss than those unaffected by the illness, according to the study’s authors, who note that earlier studies on diabetes and hearing loss did not take blood-glucose levels into account.

In the study, men did not seem to show a link between diabetes and hearing loss, according to study author Kathleen Yaremchuk, MD, chair of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at Henry Ford Hospital. Yaremchuk notes, however, that men are exposed to more environmental causes of hearing loss, such as loud noise, either in the workplace or during leisure activities. As such, men are more likely than women to suffer from hearing loss, so this prevalence may mask the effect of diabetes, she says.

“Primary care practitioners are very familiar with having their diabetic patients’ eyes screened for diabetic retinopathy on a regular basis to prevent permanent damage. This is true for renal function as well,” says Yaremchuk. “Primary care physicians need to refer their patients for hearing evaluation as well, to document and determine if the diabetic patient’s is decreased.”

Whether better management of diabetes can reverse hearing loss that’s already occurred is unknown, but the ultimate takeaway for diabetics and primary care physicians is the importance of blood glucose control, says Yaremchuk, adding that managing diabetes properly should help prevent hearing loss or keep it from worsening.

The study’s findings were originally presented at the meeting of the Triological Society’s 2014 annual meeting, held in Miami Beach, Fla.

—Mark McGraw