2, March 2010
Even mild hearing loss can compromise the ability to understand speech in the presence of background noise or multiple speakers, leading to social isolation, depression, and poorer quality of life.
Investigators from Harvard University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Vanderbilt University and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, looked at factors other than age and noise that might influence the risk of hearing loss.
Ototoxicity is damage to the ear, specifically the cochlea or auditory nerve by a toxin. The ototoxic effects of aspirin are well known and the ototoxicity of NSAIDs has been suggested, but the relation between acetaminophen and hearing loss has not been examined previously.
Participants were drawn from the Health Professionals Followup study, which tracked over 26,000 men every two years for 18 years. A questionnaire determined analgesic use, hearing loss and a variety of physiological, medical and demographic factors.
For aspirin, regular users under 50 and those aged 50–59 years were 33 per cent more likely to have hearing loss than were nonregular users, but there was no association among men aged 60 years and older.
For NSAIDs, regular users aged under 50 were 61 per cent more likely, those aged 50–59 were 32 per cent more likely, and those aged 60 and older were 16 percent more likely to develop hearing loss than non–regular users of NSAIDs. For acetaminophen, regular users aged under 50 were 99 percent more likely, regular users aged 50–59 were 38 per cent more likely, and those aged 60 and older were 16 per cent more likely to have hearing loss than non–regular users of acetaminophen.