Having iron deficiency anemia (IDA) may increase a person’s risk of hearing loss, according to a study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.
The study indicated that adults with IDA had nearly twice the risk of sensorineural hearing loss and more than twice the risk of combined hearing loss as adults without IDA.
Researchers said the goals of future studies will be to better understand the association between IDA and hearing loss and determine whether promptly diagnosing and treating IDA may have a positive effect on the overall health of adults with hearing loss.
For this study, Kathleen M. Schieffer, of the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and her colleagues examined data from deidentified electronic medical records.
The data encompassed 305,339 adults. They had a mean age of 50.1 (range, 21 to 90), and 43% were male.
The prevalence of IDA in this population was 0.7%.
There was a 1.6% prevalence of combined hearing loss, which was defined as any combination of conductive hearing loss (due to problems with the bones of the middle ear), sensorineural hearing loss (when there is damage to the cochlea or to the nerve pathways from the inner ear to the brain), deafness, and unspecified hearing loss.
Both sensorineural hearing loss and combined hearing loss were significantly associated with IDA.
Sensorineural hearing loss was present in 1.1% of individuals with IDA (P=0.005), and combined hearing loss was present in 3.4% of individuals with IDA (P<0.001).
Logistic regression analysis showed increased odds of sensorineural hearing loss and combined hearing loss among adults with IDA.
The odds ratio (adjusted for sex) was 1.82 for sensorineural hearing loss and 2.41 for combined hearing loss.
