[A study on early hearing impairment with essential hypertension].
OBJECTIVE
To study the characteristic of hearing loss in essential hypertension.


METHODS
Sixty-eight cases (136 ears) of patients with essential hypertension were divided into two groups, i.e. group A, patients without retinal arteriosclerosis (35 cases, 70 ears ) and group B, patients with retinal arteriosclerosis (33 cases, 66 ears ). The control group consisted of 30 cases (60 ears) of the same sex and same age. All people were measured by pure tone audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions.


RESULTS
The pure tone thresholds measured in group B hypertensive patients were significantly higher than in the normal controls (P<0.05), whereas pure tone thresholds in group A were not different from those in the control group (P>0.05). From 1000 to 8000 Hz, DPOAE amplitudes of hypertensive group A and group B were lower than that in control group (P<0.01). Only on the frequency points of 4000 Hz, the detection rate of DPOAE in group B was lower than that in control group (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Hypertension is a risk factor of degeneration of the hearing apparatus. The hearing function of hypertensive patients has probability to be impaired, although they do not feel hearing loss.
Zhang
Jing
J
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, the General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300052, China.
Zhou
Huifang
H
Zhang
Geng
G
Xu
Yi
Y
D000328:Adult; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D012307:Risk Factors