Lipid profiles and obesity as potential risk factors of sudden sensorineural hearing loss

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 4; p. e0122496
• Main Authors: Lee, Joong Seob, Kim, Dong Hyun, Lee, Hyo Jeong, Kim, Hyung Jong, Koo, Ja Won, Choi, Hyo Geun, Park, Bumjung, Hong, Sung Kwang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 10-04-2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Aged; Atherosclerosis; Body mass; Body mass index; Body size; Body weight; Case-Control Studies; Cholesterol; Comorbidity; Complications and side effects; Data processing; Density; Disease; Female; Health risk assessment; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - blood; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - epidemiology; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - etiology; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - therapy; High density lipoprotein; Hospitals; Humans; Lipids; Lipids - blood; Low density lipoprotein; Low density lipoproteins; Male; Medical prognosis; Middle Aged; Multivariate analysis; Nutrition; Obesity; Obesity - complications; Otolaryngology; Pathogenesis; Patients; Physiological aspects; Prevalence; Prognosis; Regression analysis; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Studies; Surgery; Treatment Outcome; Triglycerides; South Korea
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122496

The objective of our study was to establish whether increased lipid profiles and obesity affect the prevalence and prognosis of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).
This was a case-controlled study with a longitudinal design. According to our criteria, 324 patients with SSNHL were included in this study. To manage potential covariates, 972 subjects with normal hearing from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were matched as control group according to their propensity scores. Age, level of total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), and body mass index (BMI) were obtained from the clinical data. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between SSNHL and lipid profiles or obesity in the 1296 subjects. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to determine whether lipid profiles and obesity are prognostic factors in patients with SSNHL.
Mean body weight, BMI, TC, and TG were significantly higher in patients with SSNHL compared with control subjects (p<0.05). However, LDL-C values did not differ significantly between the two groups. Subjects with elevated TC and TG levels had a 2.20- (95% CI 1.50-3.24) and 1.50-fold (95% CI 1.08-2.08) increased odds, respectively, of SSNHL compared with subjects with normal TC and TG levels. Subjects with grade III BMI had a 1.59-fold (95% CI 1.17-2.16) increased odds of SSNHL. Multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that BMI was an independent risk factor of treatment outcome, as patients with BMI ≥27.5 were less likely to achieve complete recovery than those with BMI <27.5 (p<0.05).
The results of this study revealed that elevated TC and TG levels and increased BMI are significantly associated with the prevalence of SSNHL and its prognosis, indicating that vascular compromise may play an important role in the pathogenesis of SSNHL.