Search

Although metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been associated with various diseases, few studies to date have addressed the association between MetS and hearing loss.This cross-sectional review of health examination center data sought to determine the association between MetS and hearing disturbance.This study involved 28,866 subjects. Height, weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure were measured, and basic blood tests and pure-tone audiometry (PTA) were performed. Other factors analyzed included body mass index, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia.Age and gender did not differ between subjects with and without MetS. PTA was slightly higher in subjects with than without MetS, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = .47). The incidence of hearing loss was no higher in subjects who met three of the five diagnostic criteria of MetS than in those who met 0-2 criteria, but was significantly higher in subjects who met four (p = .04) and five (p .01) criteria.MetS may be associated with hearing loss, especially in subjects who meet four or five of the diagnostic criteria for MetS.

Underweight and severe obesity were associated with an increased prevalence of hearing loss in a Korean population.The relationship between weight and hearing loss is unclear. This study, therefore, analyzed the relationship between hearing loss and body mass index (BMI) in a Korean population.The prevalence and severity of hearing loss were assessed in 61 052 subjects who underwent health screening examinations, including hearing tests. Subjects were divided into five groups according to BMI (underweight, normal, overweight, obese, and severely obese). The relationships between the prevalence and severity of hearing loss and BMI were analyzed, after adjusting for the effects of age.The rates of mild or greater hearing loss in the underweight, normal, overweight, obese, and severely obese groups were 24.9%, 20.4%, 21.8%, 21.2%, and 24.1%, respectively. Mild severity of hearing loss was the most common in all five groups, followed by moderate, moderately severe, and severe hearing loss, in that order. Multivariate analysis, showed that the odds ratios of hearing loss in the severely obese, and underweight groups, compared with the normal group, were 1.312 and 1.282, respectively.

Patients with epiglottic abscesses showed more severe symptoms than those with acute epiglottitis and were at increased risk of airway compromise. All 11 patients with epiglottic abscesses underwent spinal needle aspiration; all were cured without severe complications. These findings indicate that spinal needle aspiration is both safe and effective in patients with epiglottic abscesses.Acute epiglottitis is a disease that may become serious or even fatal because of sudden upper airway obstruction. An epiglottic abscess may result from a coalescent epiglottic infection due to acute epiglottitis or secondary infection of an epiglottic mucocele. There have been few reports comparing acute epiglottitis with epiglottic abscess. We therefore assessed the clinical characteristics of each condition, as well as the efficacy of spinal needle aspiration and drainage of epiglottic abscesses.We retrospectively reviewed the records of 90 hospitalized patients diagnosed with acute epiglottitis and epiglottic abscess by flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy between March 2006 and February 2008. All patients were treated with medication; in addition, those with epiglottic abscess underwent spinal needle aspiration.Of 90 patients, 79 had acute epiglottitis and 11 had epiglottic abscesses. Acute epiglottitis was most common in May (16.5%) and epiglottic abscesses were most common in June (27.3%). The most common symptoms were sore throat (91.1%), dysphagia (38.9%), voice change (33.3%), and dyspnea (16.7%). All patients were treated with antibiotics and steroids. The mean length of hospitalization was 5 days. No patient required a tracheostomy or orotracheal intubation.