Diabetic individuals have a higher incidence of hearing impairment

According to a review of research on type 2 diabetes and hearing impairment published in the latest Diabetes Report, type 2 diabetes can damage the auditory system, and clinicians should include hearing tests when managing type 2 diabetes.

Hearing impairment is one of the most common disability diseases affecting nearly 16.1% of adults in the United States. Two-thirds of 70-year-old adults have significant clinical hearing impairment. At the same time, hearing impairment is associated with social isolation, depression, cognitive decline, dementia, increased fall, increased hospitalization, and increased mortality.

The research review focused on the study of population-based diabetes and hearing disorders and the evidence of diabetes-induced pathophysiological changes in the auditory system.

Dr. Elizabeth Helzner from the Southern State Medical Center at the State University of New York stated: "Although there are many correlation studies between diabetes mellitus and hearing loss, the lack of consistency in the definition of hearing impairment and other related factors in these studies makes these studies straightforward. The comparison is still more complicated."

The researchers stated in the article that the epidemiological studies of diabetes and hearing impairment are relatively new. To explore whether the risk of early hearing loss in patients with diabetes is increased, whether different status of diabetes and disease management factors affect the progression of hearing impairment, considering other Once the factors of hearing sensitivity are known, well-designed longitudinal studies are necessary.

However, the young participants’ diabetes and hearing impairment studies are more persuasive. Because older people's samples and other age-related hearing impairment factors affect the correlation between diabetes and hearing impairment, these factors alone can further promote the conclusion that type 2 diabetes can cause hearing impairment. In the pathophysiological study of young participants, including the combined effects of hyperglycemia and oxidative stress on cochlear microangiopathy and acoustic neuropathy, the incidence of hearing impairment in individuals with diabetes was higher.