A study has found that compared to non-drinking, drinking alcohol was associated with a more than 20% higher risk of hearing loss (1.22 odds ratio).
The study searched several databases for published articles up to November 2021, using the keywords "alcohol drinking" and "hearing loss". 18 studies were included in the meta-study with a total of 27,849 participants.
Analysis of the data in the study showed a statistically significant positive association between alcohol consumption and hearing loss risks, especially among studies conducted in men and among younger participants.
14 studies were from Asia and 4 were from non-Asian regions. 12 studies included both men and women, 5 studies involved men and one study involved women only. All the studies described a method for the assessment of hearing impairment. 9 studies used 25 dB as the hearing impairment threshold, 8 studies used 40 dB and one study used 30 dB.
The study, "Alcohol as a risk factor for hearing loss: A systematic review and meta-analysis", was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Sources: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and https://journals.plos.org
Originally published on hear-it.org
