Use of antidepressants increases the risk of a sudden hearing loss
A study has found that the increased risk for a sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) for antidepressant users is 1.36 compared with non-users.
In the study, all classes of antidepressants consistently increased the risk of a sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Patients receiving four classes of antidepressants were associated with a much higher risk of a sudden hearing loss, while those receiving only one or two classes of antidepressants had a lower risk.
About the study
The study used data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database and included 218,466 antidepressant users and 1,116,518 non-users. Each patient was tracked for 5 years to ascertain whether or not they were diagnosed with a sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).
The study, “Antidepressants and risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a population-based cohort study”, was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Sources: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and the International Journal of Epidemiology