Hearing Loss And Osteoporosis
Research has shown that hearing loss is 40 percent higher than normal among thousands of women in the U.S. with osteoporosis or low bone density. To reach this conclusion, researchers from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital followed nearly 144,000 women for up to 34 years. They noted that hearing loss is the third most common chronic health condition in the U.S. and that earlier studies of people affected revealed a higher prevalence of osteoporosis among them, but whether osteoporosis or low bone density influences the risk of hearing loss is unclear. The investigators also commented that it isn’t known whether hearing loss related to bone integrity can be prevented by taking bisphosphonates, the drugs most often used to prevent fractures in people with reduced bone density.
Source:
Sharon Curhan et al, “Patients with osteoporosis have higher incidence of sensorineural hearing loss,” Clinical Otolarangology, April 10, 2014, onlinelibrary.wiley/doi/abs/10.1111/coa.12242
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