Association of Bone Mineral Density With Hearing Impairment in Postmenopausal Women in Korea

Abstract

Objectives Previous studies examining the association between osteoporosis (OP) and hearing loss (HL) have shown conflicting results. The objective of the present study was to examine the association between hearing impairment and OP in postmenopausal women, using appropriate statistical analyses.Methods Total 1,009 participants were included in the current study. The propensity score matched (PSM) cohort was defined as the cohort including participants diagnosed with OP and participants without OP. Three statistical models were developed where model 1 was unadjusted, model 2 included age, and model 3 included age, body mass index, alcohol intake, smoking habit, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride level, vitamin D, and alkaline phosphatase.Results There were 776 and 233 participants in the groups diagnosed without and with OP, respectively. For propensity score matching, 233 pairs were selected from the 776 participants without OP. In the total cohort, using statistical models 2 and 3, no significant difference in the four hearing thresholds was identified between the 2 groups. Logistic regression indicated that, in model 3, participants with OP had a 1.128 (P=0.323) increased risk HL. A significant HL risk was not observed in participants with OP. Using statistical model 3, there were no significant associations among lumbar spine or femoral neck T-scores and changes in the hearing thresholds. In the PSM cohort, statistical models also showed similar results.Conclusion The current study did not demonstrate and association between bone mineral density and hearing impairment in the study population of postmenopausal Korean women.

The effect of osteoporosis on cochlear function in postmenopausal women: An observational study

“…Upala S et al [26] suggest that there is a possible relationship between hearing loss and BMD in the meta-analysis. Jung DJ et al [27] did not find such a relationship in the study. In our study, there was no significant difference in osteoporotic patients based on the results of the vertebrae.…”

Exploring the association of Bone Alkaline Phosphatases And Hearing Loss

“…As far as we know, women who have low body mass indices are at risk for osteoporosis 17 . ALP has been found at higher levels in osteoporotic postmenopausal women due to high bone turnover rate 12 . In addition, high bone turnover states are known to raise plasma lead levels.…”

“…Moreover, ALP is capable of dephosphorylating nucleotide phosphatase and lipopolysaccharide to reduce inflammation and coagulopathy, as it shares a similar amino acid sequence with von Willebrand factor and collagen 35 . The positive correlation between inflammation and ALP level mostly presents in healthy elderly people with unrecognized Paget's disease 5 , osteoporosis 12,13,17 , and presbycusis 5 . The sensorineural hearing loss in Paget disease includes a variety of cochlear lesions 36 and inferior cochlear vein occlusion that lead to pathologic changes in the stria vascularis and spiral ligament 37 .…”

“…There are a myriad of intrinsic and extrinsic factors concerning hearing loss issues, such as age 5,6 , gene polymorphism 5,6 , noise and digital music exposure 7 , poor nutrition and lifestyle 6 , current ototoxic drugs used 5,6 , and secondhand smoke 8 . In addition to these factors, over 50% of patients with hearing impairment have previously unrecognized underlying diseases, such as hypertension 9 , diabetes mellitus (DM) 10 , metabolic syndrome 11 , osteoporosis 12,13 and Paget disease 14 .…”

Hallazgos audiológicos en personas menores de 65 años diagnosticadas con osteoporosis. Estudio preliminar

“…Un estudio reciente realizado en Corea por Jung, Ho Cho y Lee (2016), buscó asociar la densidad mineral ósea con la pérdida auditiva en una muestra de 1.009 mujeres premenopáusicas. Se les realizó una audiometría automática con el fin de clasificar umbrales auditivos, a pesar de que se observaron diferencias de hasta 5 dB mayor en el grupo con osteoporosis, no hubo una relación estadísticamente significativa entre ambas variables 17 . Sin embargo, dicha relación la investigaron Kahveci y cols (2014) analizando una muestra total de 100 pacientes con osteoporosis entre 26 a 85 años, encontrando una mayor incidencia de pérdida auditiva del tipo sensorioneural en pacientes diagnosticados con osteoporosis 18 .…”