Increased risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss in patients with hepatitis virus infection

Abstract

The etiology of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) remains unclear. Possible causes of SSNHL include vascular diseases, viral infection, and autoimmune disorders. Therefore, we investigated whether hepatitis virus infection is correlated with the risk of SSNHL. Using data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database, we conducted a retrospective matched-cohort study to compare patients diagnosed with hepatitis B or C virus (HBV/HCV) infections from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2010, (N = 170,942) with frequency-matched controls (N = 512,826) at a ratio of 1:3 by sex, age, and index year. We followed each patient until the end of 2010 and evaluated the incidence of SSNHL. At the end of the follow-up period, 647 (0.38%, 647/170,942) patients developed SSNHL in the HBV/HCV group compared with 978 (0.19%, 978/512,826) in the control groups, with a statistical significance of P < 0.001 (using the log-rank test). The incidence rate ratio of SSNHL was 5.743-fold higher in the HBV/HCV group than in the control group (283.17 vs. 49.31 per 100,000 person-years, P < 0.001). The risk of SSNHL increased with HBV/HCV infection, and an adjusted hazard ratio of 5.103 (95% CI, 4.585–5.678) was determined using Cox proportional hazards regression. This study contributes to the awareness of the increased risk of SSNHL in HBV/HCV-infected populations. Our findings suggest that an underlying viral infection contributes to the development of SSNHL.

Visual and brainstem auditory evoked potentials in HCV-infected patients before and after interferon-free therapy — A pilot study

“…The precise etiology of this disorder consisting in a sudden decrease in hearing acuity of approximately 30 dB is still unknown. Vascular, immunisation or infectious background is being considered (Chen et al, 2017). The impact of HCV infection on the functionality of the auditory path was not analysed, and the incidence of otolaryngological complications unrelated to treatment in these patients is unknown.…”

Retrospective evaluation of the relationship between seasonal factors and idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

“…The pathogenesis of this disease has been suggested by different theories such as inflammatory, vascular, traumatic, metabolic, neoplastic, and ototoxic. [16] Thus, once all other possible pathological entities causing SSNHL were excluded, ISSNHL is most often diagnosed.…”

“…Audiologic data were reported via the methods suggested by the Hearing Committee of the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. Based on Siegel's criteria, [16,17] a classification was made in accordance with the treatment success and pure tone averages were observed during the follow-ups one month later. ISSNHL patients were divided into four subgroups by considering whether their pure tone averages (PTA) pointed out complete, partial, slight and no recovery or not.…”

Increased Risk of Sensorineural Hearing Loss as a Result of Exposure to Air Pollution

“…Several etiological factors can cause SHL, such as loud noise [17,18], viral infection [14,19], genetic mutations [20,21], accidental events [22,23], ototoxicity [24][25][26], autoimmune diseases [27] and unknown illness-induced sudden SHL [28,29]. Several diseases such as hypertension (HT) [30,31], diabetes mellitus (DM) [32,33], stroke [34], chronic kidney disease (CKD) [35,36], ischemic heart disease (IHD) [37,38], alcoholism [39,40], nicotine dependence [41,42], asthma [43][44][45], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [46], and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [47] are associated with SHL.…”