title: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is correlated with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction: a population-based cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies have indicated that hypercholesterolemia and a high burden of cardiovascular risk factors are associated with the development of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL). The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that SSHL is a risk factor for the development of myocardial infarction (MI).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database, we compared patients diagnosed with SSHL between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2006, (N = 44,830) with age-matched controls (1:1) (N = 44,830). We followed up on each patient until the end of 2009 to evaluate the incidence of MI for a minimum period of 3 years after their initial SSHL diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that after adjusting for potential confounds with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.254 (95% confidence interval, 1.092-1.440, P < 0.05), patients with SSHL were more likely to suffer MI than the control population. When stratified by patient age, the incidence of MI was 1.62-fold and 1.28-fold higher for SSHL-diagnosed patients aged between 50 and 64 years and those aged ≥ 65 years (P = 0.0064 and P = 0.0001), respectively, than in the non-SSHL group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SSHL may confer an independent risk of MI. This observation may prompt the early detection and timely treatment of patients at a high risk of MI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Charlene
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shih-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yung-Song
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shih-Feng
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Tsung-Ming
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003639:Hearing Loss, Sudden / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015996:Survival Rate; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Sudden hearing loss; acute myocardial infarction; sudden sensorineural hearing loss