Relationships Among Factors Relevant to Abdominal Fat and Age-Related Hearing Loss

OBJECTIVES: Metabolic syndrome is related with abdominal fat and with age-related hearing loss (ARHL). In this study, we evaluated the association between a variety of factors relevant to abdominal fat (FRAs) and hearing thresholds. METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively the medical records of 2,602 subjects aged over 40 years with symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss who underwent abdominal fat computed tomography (CT) scans. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were used to demonstrate the association between each FRA and hearing thresholds at low and high frequencies. RESULTS: Four of 5 FRAs were associated with hearing thresholds at high frequencies in males. All FRAs examined showed a relationship with hearing thresholds at low frequencies in females. Diabetes mellitus (DM) among clinical factors and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) among the 5 FRAs were the most reflective of hearing thresholds in both males and females. CONCLUSION: We found that FRAs were associated with hearing loss with frequency specific characteristics according to sex and reinforced that DM and VAT is particularly an important role for hearing.