Retrospective study aiming at evaluating the interference of associate diseases in the evolution and prognosis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Case-Control Study. Thirty-five patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss were divided in two groups, one of them with associate diseases (hypertension, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemias), and another one without co-occurrence of such diseases. The groups were evaluated regarding: age, gender, associate diseases, presence of tinnitus, dizziness and ear fullness sensation, presence of cerebral microangiopathy observed in magnetic resonance imaging, ophthalmoscopic findings, treatment onset, improvements in audiometric findings and at speech discrimination tests. Statistical analysis of data was performed. RESULTS: The associate disease group showed higher ages, cerebral microangiopathy observed in magnetic resonance imaging and later improvement in speech discrimination tests, being this difference statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss co-occurring with hypertension, diabetes mellitus or dyslipidemias, in older patients, is associated with a higher prevalence of cerebral microangiopathy, revealed by magnetic resonance imaging, and associated with a slower hearing recovering, showed by later improvements in speech discrimination tests.
hypertension; diabetes mellitus; sensorineural; hearing loss; sudden hearing loss
