title: Association Between Hearing Loss And Cauliflower Ear in Wrestlers, a Case Control Study Employing Hearing Tests.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  According to anecdotal findings, some wrestling coaches and wrestlers believe that cauliflower ear might lead to hearing loss. Our preliminary study showed that the prevalence of hearing loss reported by the wrestlers with cauliflower ear is significantly higher than this rate among wrestlers without cauliflower ear. To the best of our knowledge, no other study has confirmed this finding employing hearing tests.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate and to compare the prevalence of hearing loss among wrestlers with and without cauliflower ears employing hearing tests.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects were randomly selected form 14 wrestling clubs in Tehran. Subjects were 201 wrestlers with cauliflower ears (100 wrestlers with one cauliflower ear and 101 wrestlers with two cauliflower ears) and 139 wrestlers without cauliflower ears. All the participants in this study were interviewed to collect information on demographic factors and medical history of risk factors and diseases related to hearing loss. The subjects in both groups underwent otoscopic and audiologic examinations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Audiometric examination results at the frequency range of 0.5 - 8 KHz showed that the prevalence of hearing loss among cauliflower ears was higher than this rate among non-cauliflower ears. Also, the percentage of positive history of ear infections among cauliflower ears (8.4%) was about two times more than this finding among non-cauliflower ears (4.9%). This difference tended to be significant (OR: 1.86, P = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.98 - 3.53).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing that the prevalence of hearing loss among cauliflower ears is higher than this rate among non-cauliflower ears confirmed by audiological tests. This emphasizes that, more preventive measures such as mandatory ear gear for wrestlers are required.
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran ; Department of Sports and Exercise Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Pardis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Noormohammadpour
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rostami
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Ruhollah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nourian
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mansournia
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarough Farahani
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Farzin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farahbakhsh
authors.affiliation: Sports Medicine Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran ; Spine Division, Noorafshar Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Hospital, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Ramin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kordi
keywords: Hearing Loss; Hearing Tests; Wrestling