Cardiovascular risk factors and hearing loss among adults in a tertiary center of Northwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Objective To assess the effect of cardiovascular risk factors on hearing impairment. Methods This was a cross sectional study conducted in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto. A pretested questionnaire was used to obtain information about the biodata and medical history of participants after which, they were examined and had their hearing thresholds measured. Results In this study, total of 220 participants were recruited. Within these participants, 112 (55.5%) were females, while 98 (44.5%) were males. The average age of the participants was (45.24 ± 12.21) years. The mean of pure tone average among the participants was (19.15 ± 9.28) dB HL. Thirty‐six (16.4%) of the participants had some degree of hearing loss. Besides, 30 of them (13.6%) had hypertension, while 23 (10.5%) presented with diabetes mellitus. In addition, 43 participants (19.5%) had BMI (body mass index) that was ≥25 kg/m 2 . Also, 9 out of the 220 participants (4.1%) had a history of cigarette smoking. Our studies indicated that hypertension, diabetes mellitus, BMI of ≥25 kg/m 2 , and aging were significantly associated with the risk of hearing loss. In contrast, cigarette smoking and sex were not associated with the hearing loss. Conclusion This study showed that hypertension, diabetes mellitus, aging, and higher BMI were associated with increase risk of hearing loss.