Medicine

Hearing Loss And Cardiovascular Disease

Older patients with a history of heart attack are about 80% more likely than those without a history of heart attack to have impaired hearing, according to a Wisconsin researcher.

The findings were presented recently at the American Heart Association's Asia Pacific Forum in Hawaii.

In the study, Dr. Peter Torre III of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, looked at 1,600 individuals between the ages of 52 and 97 years. About 41% of the participants were men.

Torre reported that people with a history of cardiovascular disease were 54% more likely to have abnormal function of the cochlear, the spiral canal in the inner ear that contains the nerve endings necessary for hearing.

Women with heart disease were slightly more likely to have impaired cochlear function than men, Torre said. The investigators are unable to explain the gender difference at this point.

Patients who exercised at least once a week were 32% less likely to have impaired cochlear function compared with their sedentary peers, the findings indicate.