Prognosis of sudden deafness with special reference to risk factors of microvascular pathology

Objective: We attempted to elucidate the contribution of microvascular disorders as risk factors to the prognostic outcome in well-defined patients with sudden deafness. Methods: One-hundred and thirty-two patients diagnosed as unilateral sudden deafness were retrospectively analyzed. Auditory function was determined by pure-tone audiometry. Diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension were considered as microvascular diseases. Results: Concurrent microvascular diseases were recognized in 38 patients. Although the hearing disturbance at the first visit showed no difference from patients without concurrent diseases, a better outcome of hearing was obtained in patients without the concurrent diseases. Conclusion: The poor prognosis observed in patients with the concurrent diseases is likely to have been brought about by preexisting microvascular disease of the hearing organ, which is highly affected by aging.