Hearing Loss and Body Weight Could Be Linked

According to the World Health Organization, over 5% of the world’s population has a disabling level of hearing loss.  That’s 360 million people!

With so many people experiencing hearing loss, a group of researchers set out to find out if there are modifiable risk factors associated with hearing loss.  They concluded that public health could be improved if risk factors could be identified and people could individually take action for their own hearing health.

Some of the things they looked at were body mass index, waist circumference, and physical activity level, since these are all able to be changed, managed and tracked.

BMI and Hearing Loss

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measurement that compares your height to your weight.  The National Institutes of Health no longer use the old, standard height and weight charts to measure healthy weight, overweight, and obesity.  They now use the BMI.  Your BMI is calculated by dividing your weight (in kilograms) by your height in meters squared.  BMI is an indicator of the amount of mass (and that includes fat) in your body. 

Here is a chart of BMIs and what they mean

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital published the results of their study on BMI and hearing loss in the American Journal of Medicine. Dr. Sharon Curhan, Dr, Roland Eavey, Dr. Molin Wang and other members of the team discovered that a higher BMI and larger waist circumference are each associated with higher risk of hearing loss in women.

They looked at the data from a study of more than 68,000 women who were followed over 20 years. In comparison to women with BMI of less than 25, they found that the risk for hearing loss was 17% higher for women with a BMI of 30 – 34.  It was 22% higher for women with a BMI of 35 to 39; and 25% higher for women with a BMI of more than 40.  As the BMI moved up from the overweight category to the obese category, the risk of hearing loss increased.

The researchers did not delve into the cause of the increase; they just noted the relationship between higher than healthy BMI and hearing loss.

Waist Circumference and Hearing Loss

Not only did the researchers look at data on BMI, they also looked at data on the circumference of the waist.  As you can imagine, many women with a high BMI also had a high waist circumference.

They used a baseline of 28 inches as the comparison point. When they compared the women with waist circumference of less than 28 inches with those of a waist circumference of 35 inches or more, they found a 27% higher risk of hearing loss.

The larger waist circumference was associated independently of BMI to determine the increased risk of hearing loss. They felt there could also be a relationship between belly fat and hearing loss. 

Physical Activity and Hearing Loss

As part of the study, researchers also looked at the relationship between physical activity and hearing loss.   Since they learned that increased BMI and waist circumference was a positive factor for hearing loss, they wanted to see if increased physical activity was a negative factor.

They found women who were the most physically active had a 17% lower risk of hearing loss compared to women who were the least physically active. Walking was the most common form of physical activity for these women.  Simply walking was associated with a lower risk for hearing loss.  The women who walked two hours or more per week had a 15% lower risk of hearing loss than women who walked less than one hour per week.

Summary

Dr. Sharon Curhan, lead author of the published paper, explains, “We often think of hearing loss as an inevitable part of the aging process, but these findings provide evidence that potentially modifiable risk factors, such as maintaining a healthy weight and staying physically active, may help in the prevention of hearing loss or delay its progression.”

So by maintaining a healthy weight and staying active you not only protect your heart you protect your hearing as well.