Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Sep 29;5(9):e009018.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009018.

Gallstone is correlated with an increased risk of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a retrospective cohort study

Chong-Chi Chiu  1 , Kuan-Ji Lee  2 , Shih-Feng Weng  3 , Yuan-Ming Yang  2 , Yung-Song Lin  4
Affiliations

Gallstone is correlated with an increased risk of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a retrospective cohort study

Chong-Chi Chiu et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to test the hypothesis that gallstone disease (GSD) is a risk factor for the development of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). Research has shown risks of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events in patients with GSD; however, well-conducted English studies on the association between GSD and the development of ISSNHL are lacking.

Design and setting: Retrospective cohort study using the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database.

Participants: We compared 26,449 patients diagnosed with GSD between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2007, with 52,898 age-matched, gender-matched and comorbidities propensity scores-matched controls.

Outcome measured: We followed each patient until the end of 2011 and evaluated the incidence of ISSNHL for at least 4 years after the initial GSD diagnosis.

Results: The incidence of ISSNHL was 1.42 times higher in the GS cohort than in the non-GS cohort (9.27 vs 6.52/10,000 person-years). Using Cox proportional hazard regressions, the adjusted HR was 1.44 (95% CI 1.19 to 1.74). In the cohort of patients with GSD who needed a cholecystectomy, 37 patients suffered from ISSNHL. Among those patients, 31 (83.7%) patients sustained ISSNHL before cholecystectomy and 6 (16.2%) patients sustained ISSNHL after cholecystectomy.

Conclusions: A diagnosis of GSD may be an independent risk for ISSNHL. This finding suggests that an underlying vascular and inflammatory mechanism may contribute to the development of ISSNHL. Physicians may want to counsel patients with GSD to seek medical attention if they have hearing impairments, because patients may be at an increased risk of developing ISSNHL.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The cumulative incidence rates of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) in Taiwanese patients with (GSD[+]) and without (GSD[−]) gallstone disease (GSD) (2000–2011).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Stinton LM, Myers RP, Shaffer EA. Epidemiology of gallstones. Gastroenterol Clin North Am 2010;39:157–69, vii 10.1016/j.gtc.2010.02.003 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chen CH, Huang MH, Yang JC et al. . Prevalence and risk factors of gallstone disease in an adult population of Taiwan: an epidemiological survey. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2006;21:1737–43. 10.1111/j.1440-1746.2006.04381.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. DeFrances CJ, Hall MJ. 2005 National Hospital Discharge Survey. Adv Data 2007;385:1–19. - PubMed
    1. Beckingham IJ. ABC of diseases of liver, pancreas, and biliary system. Gallstone disease. BMJ 2001;322:91–4. 10.1136/bmj.322.7278.91 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen LY, Qiao QH, Zhang SC et al. . Metabolic syndrome and gallstone disease. World J Gastroenterol 2012;18:4215–20. 10.3748/wjg.v18.i31.4215 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources