Obstructive Sleep Apnea may be related to Sudden Hearing Loss in Males

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common condition found in obese individuals, wherein the airways get occluded while sleeping, leading to a sudden dip in blood oxygen levels and frequent episodes of waking up. It is associated with generalized inflammation and different bio-physiologic phenomena involving nervous, endocrine and cardiovascular systems, etc. However, its effect on the auditory system was not known.

Now, researchers from Taipei Medical University Hospital have concluded that sudden sensori-neural hearing loss (SSNHL) in men may be associated with prior history of obstructive sleep apnea. The findings of the research have been published in the latest issue of the journal “Archives of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery. For the study, researchers led by Dr. Jau Jiuan Sheu, selected 3192 patients suffering from SSNHL from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. They also selected 15,960 individuals of same age and sex, with no history of SSNHL, to serve as controls.

Among all the individuals participating in the study, 240 had a history of obstructive sleep apnea. After taking other confounding factors like obesity and heart disease into consideration, the researchers found that 1.7% of patients with SSNHL had a history of obstructive sleep apnea compared to 1.2 % of participants without SSNHL. Although the absolute difference is small, physicians can investigate for sleep apnea in patients presenting with SSNHL as the condition is relatively easier to treat.

An interesting finding of the study was that in men, there was 48% more likelihood of a positive history of obstructive sleep apnea in case of SSNHL. However, this association was not seen in case of women. However, the study could not prove that sleep apnea was the cause of SSNHL. The researchers have opined that inflammatory changes associated with obstructive sleep apnea may be affecting the blood vessels in the auditory area of the brain or it may be causing a plaque build-up in the vessels supplying the auditory nerves. However, the exact mechanism behind the hearing loss is yet to be studied.

References: