Blood viscosity and hearing levels in the Caerphilly Collaborative Heart Disease Study.
Data from 342 men who are participants in the Caerphilly Collaborative Heart Disease Study were used to replicate a previous report of a significant relationship between measures of whole-blood viscosity and hearing levels in persons with sensorineural hearing impairment. In the unselected data, there were significant relationships between measures of whole-blood viscosity at high shear rates and hearing threshold levels at 2000 and 4000 Hz, even after accounting for the effects of age and socioeconomic group. In a subset of the data containing 124 persons selected on the basis of likely sensorineural hearing impairment, there were significant relationships between whole-blood viscosity and hearing level at all frequencies, with stronger effects at the higher frequencies. The data support the contention of a potentially important relationship between whole-blood viscosity and sensorineural hearing impairment.
Gatehouse
S
S
Medical Research Council Institute of Hearing Research (Scottish Section), Glasgow, Scotland.
Gallacher
J E
JE
Lowe
G D
GD
Yarnell
J W
JW
Hutton
R D
RD
Ising
I
I
D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001809:Blood Viscosity; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012212:Rheology