Diuretic Use- A Risk Factor for Hearing Loss in Hypertensive Patients

Background: Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world in adults and is also one of the risk factors for hearing loss as it can compromise the vascular supply to the stria vascularis. Hypertension is often treated with diuretics as they are one of the first line drugs for uncomplicated hypertension. With diuretics being potential ototoxic drugs, there is a possibility of greater risk for hearing loss in hypertensive patients who are on diuretics compared to other antihypertensive drugs. Method: We recruited 100 hypertensive patients in our study. Prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss in hypertensive patients on diuretics was assessed in comparison to the prevalence of hearing loss in hypertensive patients on drugs other than diuretics using Pure Tone Audiometry. Result: There was a significant association between diuretic use in hypertension and increase in hearing threshold. The number of patients with sensorineural hearing loss in the diuretic use group (56%), was double than that of the control group (28%). The severity of hearing loss corelated with the duration of diuretic use (43.75% of patients with duration 3 months-1 year, 47.05% of patients with duration 1-2 years, 60% of patients with duration 2-5 years and 100% patients with duration >5 years). Conclusion: Use of diuretics in hypertensive patients is an additional risk factor for hearing loss in these patients. The patients therefore need to be followed up regularly and also history of diuretic use should be kept in mind while assessing patients presenting with hearing loss.