Water‐Soluble Coenzyme Q10 in Chronic Hearing Loss

Abstract

Objective: Q-TER is a multicomposite water-soluble formulation of CoQ10; in particular, Q-TER consists of a mixture of maltodextrin, acting as a carrier, of CoQ10 molecules of sucrester, which serves as bioactivator. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of Q-TER in subjects with chronic sensorineural hearing loss. Method: A total of 80 patients affected by chronic sensorineural hearing loss were included. The patients were divided, at random, into 2 numerically equal groups (A and B). Group A underwent therapy with Q-TER, 160 mg, once a day for 30 days; group B received placebo, once a day for 30 days. Results: Before, at the end, and 6 months after the end of the treatment, all patients underwent: pure tone audiometry, transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEAOE) and otoacoustic products of distortion (DPOAE), auditory brainstem response and speech audiometry. Compared with group B, at the end of the treatment in group A the pure tone audiometry showed a significant ( P < .05) improvement of the audiometric thresholds at the 1.000, 2.000, 4.000, and 8.000 Hz. This improvement was confirmed by the data obtained with the speech audiometry and in the last check. We found no significant differences in the others parameters and in group B. Conclusion: It is quite early to be enthusiastic. There must be more studies with controlled results. However, this kind of therapy for chronic hearing loss seems to be interesting, especially to stop hearing decay. It is also remarkable that good results are found one month after the beginning of the treatment.