Diabetes increases the risk of hearing loss

Patients with diabetes ‘have a moderately increased risk’ of hearing loss, according to a Korean study of 253,301 adults who participated in a regular health-screening examination.

The average age at baseline was 37.6 years, ranging from 18 to 87 years, and 58.2% were men. At baseline, 18.2% had prediabetes and 2.6% had diabetes. During the median follow up of four years, 1.1% of participants developed bilateral hearing loss.

The rate of hearing loss in participants with normal glucose levels was 1.8 per 1000 person years. The rate of hearing loss increased to
3.1 and 9.2 per 1000 person years in people with pre-diabetes and diabetes respectively. The risk of hearing loss showed a linear increase with HbA₁c levels above 5%.