From The Better Hearing Institute
A team of Australian researchers found that older adults with moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a higher prevalence of hearing loss than those of the same age without CKD, according to a study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases and highlighted on the National Kidney Foundation website.
The researchers assessed more than 2,900 people aged 50 and older, including 513 with moderate CKD. More than 54 percent of those with CKD reported some level of hearing loss compared to only 28 percent of the rest of the group. Nearly 30 percent of the CKD participants showed severe hearing loss compared with only 10 percent of the non-CKD participants.
According to study author, David C. Harris, structural and functional similarities between tissues in the inner ear and in the kidney may explain the link between moderate chronic kidney disease and hearing loss. He also said that toxins that accumulate in kidney failure can damage nerves, including those in the inner ear, according to the National Kidney Foundation’s website.
BHI believes that hearing tests by a hearing care professional should be a routine part of the medical care for people with kidney disease to help optimize their quality of life.
March is National Kidney Month. For more information on kidney disease, visit www.kidney.org.
– See more at: https://www.betterhearing.org/news/what%E2%80%99s-link-between-chronic-kidney-disease-and-hearing-loss#sthash.KuiGmJsr.dpuf