Sensorineural Hearing Loss and Dyslipidemia: Is There Any Relationship?

BACKGROUND: The incidence of dyslipidemia is increasing worldwide due to changes in diet and lifestyle. The aetiological role of dyslipidemia in sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between SNHL and dyslipidemia in adult Nigerian population.

DESIGN OF THE STUDY: This prospective case control study was carried out at ENT Department of University College Hospital Ibadan from August 2013 to May 2014.

METHODS: The study involved consecutive adult patients (18-60 years) with SNHL. The controls were adults without SNHL matched for age, gender and socioeconomic status. Relevant clinical data were obtained. Hearing threshold was determined by standard method and fasting plasma lipid assayed for triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density and lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C). The low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated from TG, TC and HDL-C using Freidewald's formulae. The values of <40mg/dl, >200mg/dl, >150mg/dl and >130mg/dl were considered abnormal for HDL-C, TC, TG and LDL-C respectively. Level of statistical significance was P<0.05.

RESULTS: There were 108 participants, consisting 57 (67.7%) cases and 51 (32.9%) controls with mean age of 37.911.3 years and 37.4 11.3-year respectively (p=0.708). Abnormalities in HDL-C values was the commonly observed in both cases (64.9%) and controls (76.5%).Thirty-six (63.2%) cases had severe to profound hearing loss. There was no significant correlation between lipid parameters and severity of SNHL.

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of dyslipidemia in adult patients with sensorineural hearing loss is similar to those with normal hearing. There appears to beno causal association between dyslipidemia and sensorineural hearing loss.