AbstractAim: The aim of the present study was to find the prevalence and risk factors associated with sensorineural hearingloss in patients with systemic hypertension.Material & Methods: A retrospective study conducted during the period of 18 months aimed at finding out theprevalence of sensorineural hearing loss and the risk factors related to hearing impairment among systemichypertensives in Department of ENT, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Patna, Bihar, India from May 2021to December 2022. 100 patients attending the outpatient Department of ENT, Nalanda Medical College andHospital, Patna, Bihar, India meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for the study.Results: Maximum participants were in the 56-60 age group (47%). Female participants predominated in ourstudy (66%). When right ear and left ear were studied separately, 35 patients (35%) had sensorineural hearing lossin the right ear, whereas 33 patients (33%) had sensorineural hearing loss in left ear. When hearing thresholds atindividual frequencies were noted, in the right ear 42 patients (42%) had hearing loss at 250 Hz, 34 patients (34%)had hearing loss at 500 Hz. Similarly, in the left ear, 37 patients (37%) had hearing loss at 250 Hz, 33 patients(33%) had hearing loss at 500 Hz. The patients in 55-60 age group had a higher incidence of hearing loss whencompared to the remaining study population. In our study we found that increasing age is a risk factor forsensorineural hearing loss in hypertensives. We studied whether duration of hypertension has any bearing on thedevelopment of sensorineural hearing loss and found out that patients with more than 10 years duration ofhypertension had the highest prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss.Conclusion: Sensorineural hearing loss has a high prevalence among patients with systemic hypertension. Hence,a pure tone audiometry should be done routinely in all hypertensives, particularly in elderly patients with longstanding systemic hypertension. Periodic audiological assessment should be incorporated in them to startrehabilitation as early as possible. Early diagnosis of systemic hypertension in the community and initiation oftreatment can help to further hinder the progression of microvascular disease that leads to target organ damage.

AbstractAim: The aim of the present study was to find the prevalence and risk factors associated with sensorineural hearingloss in patients with systemic hypertension.Material & Methods: A retrospective study conducted during the period of 18 months aimed at finding out theprevalence of sensorineural hearing loss and the risk factors related to hearing impairment among systemichypertensives in Department of ENT, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Patna, Bihar, India from May 2021to December 2022. 100 patients attending the outpatient Department of ENT, Nalanda Medical College andHospital, Patna, Bihar, India meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for the study.Results: Maximum participants were in the 56-60 age group (47%). Female participants predominated in ourstudy (66%). When right ear and left ear were studied separately, 35 patients (35%) had sensorineural hearing lossin the right ear, whereas 33 patients (33%) had sensorineural hearing loss in left ear. When hearing thresholds atindividual frequencies were noted, in the right ear 42 patients (42%) had hearing loss at 250 Hz, 34 patients (34%)had hearing loss at 500 Hz. Similarly, in the left ear, 37 patients (37%) had hearing loss at 250 Hz, 33 patients(33%) had hearing loss at 500 Hz. The patients in 55-60 age group had a higher incidence of hearing loss whencompared to the remaining study population. In our study we found that increasing age is a risk factor forsensorineural hearing loss in hypertensives. We studied whether duration of hypertension has any bearing on thedevelopment of sensorineural hearing loss and found out that patients with more than 10 years duration ofhypertension had the highest prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss.Conclusion: Sensorineural hearing loss has a high prevalence among patients with systemic hypertension. Hence,a pure tone audiometry should be done routinely in all hypertensives, particularly in elderly patients with longstanding systemic hypertension. Periodic audiological assessment should be incorporated in them to startrehabilitation as early as possible. Early diagnosis of systemic hypertension in the community and initiation oftreatment can help to further hinder the progression of microvascular disease that leads to target organ damage.