Clinical significance of arterial stiffness in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

Abstract

Objectives/hypothesis: To investigate the clinical significance of arterial stiffness in the development and prognosis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).

Study design: A prospective case-control study.

Methods: Fifty-four adult patients with idiopathic SSNHL and 54 age- and sex-matched controls were evaluated between January 2014 and May 2015. Arterial stiffness was assessed from brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), and other cardiovascular markers including blood pressure, body mass index, and lipid profiles were determined. The SSNHL patients were divided into two groups, recovery and nonrecovery, according to hearing recovery.

Results: BaPWV was higher in the SSNHL group than in the control group (P = .036), whereas comorbidity, anthropometric characteristics, blood pressure, and lipid profiles were similar. In addition, baPWV was correlated with initial hearing threshold, which indicated the severity of SSNHL (r = 0.38, P = .004). Univariate analysis showed that age, initial hearing threshold, and baPWV were higher in the nonrecovery group than the recovery group (P = .001, P = .004, and P = .007, respectively). There was also a significantly higher prevalence of a history of hypertension or diabetes in the nonrecovery group than in the recovery group. However, multivariate analysis showed that only the initial hearing threshold was associated with hearing recovery (P = .029).

Conclusions: Higher baPWV, representative of arterial stiffness, was associated with development and severity of SSNHL, which supports the hypothesis of a vascular etiology for this disease. Arterial stiffness had limited value in predicting the prognosis of SSNHL.

Level of evidence: 3b. Laryngoscope, 126:1918-1922, 2016.

Keywords: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss; arterial stiffness; pulse wave velocity.