Age-related hearing loss and blood pressure.
A review of the literature studying possible correlations between hearing function and cardiovascular disease (CVD) reveals a complex and somewhat contradictory picture. Most studies favor the concept of an association between hearing loss and CVD. The issue of interactions between noise-induced hearing loss and CVD, as well as between age-related hearing loss and CVD, has been discussed in numerous publications. The present study utilizes information from an epidemiological study of elderly people in Gothenburg, Sweden. We found a probable correlation between high systolic blood pressure and hearing loss in the low and mid frequencies in elderly women, 79 years old. A tendency of a similar correlation was also found in a group of 85-year-old women. An association between high diastolic blood pressure and low- and mid-frequency hearing loss was also found in the group of women aged 85 years. No consistent associations between blood pressure or hypertension and auditory function were found in 70- and 75-year-old women or in men 70 to 85 years old.
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Section of Technical and Clinical Audiology, Karolinska Hospital, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. ulf.rosenhall@ks.se
Ulf
U
Rosenhall
Valter
V
Sundh
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology