Diabetes may lead to hearing loss, finds study

Type 2 diabetes is well known to adversely affect the eyes and kidneys, but it may also raise the risk of hearing loss, say researchers who recommend hearing tests for patients with the blood sugar disease.

The researchers reviewed prior studies examining the link between diabetes and hearing loss. However, further research is needed to confirm this connection, said the team at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in New York City.

"An association between diabetes and hearing impairment in human subjects has been shown in many, but not all, studies," said Elizabeth Helzner, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health. "Direct comparison of these studies is complicated due to a lack of consistency in defining hearing impairment and other factors," she said in a SUNY news release.

However, Helzner added, the association between diabetes and hearing impairment tends to be stronger in studies that included younger participants. It's possible that in older patients, other causes of age-related hearing impairment may mask the contribution of diabetes, she said.

"This factor in itself lends weight to the notion that type 2 diabetes can damage hearing," she explained.

Hearing loss affects more than 16 per cent of American adults, with nearly half of people older than 75 having difficulty hearing, according to the US National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Hearing loss has been linked with social isolation, depression, mental decline, dementia, and increased risk for falls, hospitalization and death, the researchers say.

The study results were published recently in the journal Current Diabetes Reports.