Hearing loss seen as common diabetes complication

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hearing loss may be an under-recognized complication of diabetes, according to U.S. researchers, who found hearing loss to be roughly twice as common in people who have the disease as those who do not.

Writing on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers said hearing tests given to a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults revealed higher rates of hearing loss among adult diabetics.

The researchers analyzed data from 5,140 adults aged 20 to 69 who were given hearing tests.

Low- or mid-frequency hearing impairment of mild or greater severity was detected in 21 percent of the 399 people with diabetes and 9 percent of the 4,741 who did not have it.

High-frequency hearing impairment of mild or greater severity was present in 54 percent of those with diabetes compared to 32 percent of those without it, the study found.

The differences in hearing between diabetics and non-diabetics occurred among both men and women and in all racial and ethnic groups, education levels and income levels, the researchers said.

Diabetes may cause hearing loss by damaging the nerves and blood vessels of the inner ear, according to the researchers.

The researchers noted that the link between diabetes and hearing loss has been debated since at least the 1960s.

"Hearing loss may be an under-recognized complication of diabetes. As diabetes becomes more common, the disease may become a more significant contributor to hearing loss," researcher Catherine Cowie of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said in a statement.