Association of inflammatory markers with hearing loss in young adults.

Abstract

To assess the correlation between inflammatory markers (IM) and hearing loss (HL) in a large cohort of apparently healthy individuals who participated in an annual health survey that included formal air conduction audiometry. A total of 2,588 individuals who attended the Tel-Aviv Medical Center Inflammatory Survey (TAMCIS) for a routine annual health check between January, 2015 and August, 2019 were enrolled. The cohort's mean age was 46 years and 1864 (74.6%) were males. The TAMCIS check-up included an interview with a physician, a physical examination, blood and urine tests and formal air conduction audiometry. Out of 2,500 individuals included in the final study cohort, 1,170 (47.3%) had some hearing impairment. Those with a hearing loss in 1 or both ears had significantly higher levels of neutrophils, lymphocytes, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio, and red blood cell counts. There was a difference between low- and high- frequencies losses associated with the inflammatory status. IM levels were associated with the presence of a HL, supporting a link between inflammatory changes and hearing loss. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.