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

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.