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Review
. 2020 Jan-Dec:34:2058738420929174.
doi: 10.1177/2058738420929174.

Gender differences in audio-vestibular disorders

Virginia Corazzi  1 , Andrea Ciorba  1 , Piotr Henryk Skarżyński  2   3   4 , Magdalena B Skarżyńska  2   4 , Chiara Bianchini  1 , Francesco Stomeo  1 , Tiziana Bellini  5 , Stefano Pelucchi  1 , Stavros Hatzopoulos  1
Affiliations
Review

Gender differences in audio-vestibular disorders

Virginia Corazzi et al. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2020 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

In the last years, the attention to the role of gender in physiopathology and pharmacology of diseases in several medical disciplines is rising; however, the data on the relationship between gender and audio-vestibular disorders are still inconclusive and sometimes confusing. With this letter to the editor, we would like to review the role of gender in audio-vestibular disorders. Literature data show that anatomic variances of the inner ear do exist in men and women and that the different physiology and/or hormonal influence between genders could produce different clinical outcome of routine audiological and vestibular tests. Beyond the epidemiological gender-related differences, the clinical data suggest that the gender has a potential role as an etiopathogenetic factor in audio-vestibular disorders and it is probably responsible for the different clinical features observed between male and female subjects.

Keywords: audiology; cochlea; gender; gender differences; inner ear; sensorineural hearing loss; sex; vestibule.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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