Turkish Archives of Otorhinolaryngology (Sep 2003)
Risk Factors in Sudden Hearing Loss
Abstract
Objectives:To investigate the role of smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hypercholestrolemia as risk factors in the development of sudden hearing loss.Materials and Methods:39 male (54.2%) and 33 female (45.8%) totally 72 patients with a mean age of 36.94 ± 15.24 years were compared with the Turkish population about the rates of smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia.Results:24 male (61.5%) and 8 females (24.2%) were smokers. 4 male (10.3%) and 4 females (12.1%) had hypertension. 1 male (2.6%) and 2 females (4.1%) were diabetic. 4 (4.2%) of all cases had hypercholesterolemia. These risk factor rates from our study were not statistically different from the rates of the Turkish population (p> 0.05).Conclusion:We concluded that smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia are no risk factors for the development of sudden hearing loss.