Study links long-standing hypertension to poor hearing in Nigerians

EXPERTS say that the vast burden of hypertension in Africa could significantly contribute to the silent and often overlooked burden of hearing loss on the African continent and called for regular ear check-ups in hypertensive patients to improve their quality of life.

In a study, researchers said there is a demonstrable association between systemic arterial hypertension and hearing loss just as observed hearing loss tends to worsen with both the severity and duration of hypertension.

They recruited 500 individuals aged 18 to 59 years from the Cardiology Medical Outpatients’ clinic between February and June 2019. First-degree hypertension was seen in 201 subjects while the remainder had second-degree hypertension.

It was in The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology and it involved John Adekunle Babarinde, Adebolajo A. Adeyemo & Abiodun Moshood Adeoye.

These were individuals with no family history of hearing impairment, prolonged exposure to noise, ongoing ear disease or history of ear infection, ototoxic drugs (including diuretics), and diseases like diabetes mellitus, stroke and chronic kidney disease.

The control group included healthy adult patients’ relatives and hospital staff without hypertension or any of the exclusion criteria.

According to the study, 30 percent of the persons with hypertension had mild hearing loss. The hearing loss was in both ears in all subjects and slightly worse in the right ear. The hearing loss worsened with increased age, severity, and duration of hypertension.

“Age was associated with increased prevalence of hearing loss, the older age group had a higher prevalence of hearing loss compared to the younger age group, and no relationship was seen between hearing loss and gender among the hypertensive subjects.

“Hearing loss was present in 75 subjects while only one of the controls had a hearing loss; among the subjects with stage 1 hypertension, 23.8 percent had hearing loss. Hearing sensitivity was slightly worse in the right ear than in the left in both groups.

“Also, 96 percent of the hearing loss cases were sensorineural hearing loss caused by damage to the inner ear or the nerve from the ear to the brain, while the remainder was mixed hearing loss. However, the class of antihypertensive drug used was not significantly associated with hearing loss.”

They suggested that the hearing sensitivity that was slightly worse in the right ear compared to the left ear was because the hypertensive subjects were all right-handed and the hearing loss was caused by prolonged noise exposure in the corresponding ear.

They concluded, “Incorporating regular audiological assessment for hypertensive patients could improve the quality of care for hypertension and quality of life for hypertensive patients.”