Sudden sensorineural hearing loss recovery impacted by MetS

(HealthDay)—Patients with metabolic syndrome have a lower rate of recovery from sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) than those without, according to research published online Feb. 15 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

Su Young Jung, M.D., from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues examined the correlation of metabolic syndrome with the rate of recovery from SSNHL in a retrospective medical record review of 124 patients treated at a single tertiary university hospital. Seventy of the patients had metabolic syndrome, and 54 did not.

The researchers found that the groups with and without metabolic syndrome had similar mean pure-tone audiometry thresholds at baseline but that recovery rates after treatment were significantly lower in the metabolic syndrome group. There were no differences in the five diagnostic criteria of metabolic syndrome for those patients who did and did not recover. Patients with versus without metabolic syndrome had a higher level of hearing loss; the difference was not statistically significant. There were also differences in audiogram patterns, although these were not significant. In patients with three factors of metabolic syndrome and those with none, hearing recovery rates were similar; there was a significant difference for patients with four or more factors and those without metabolic syndrome.

"Prognosis was poorer in patients with at least four factors of metabolic syndrome than in those with three or fewer of the five factors," the authors write.

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