Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Linked to Risk for Sudden Hearing Loss

FRIDAY, June 20, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Among older adults, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is associated with increased risk for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), according to a study published in the June issue of Laryngoscope: Investigative Otolaryngology.

Eun Seok Kang, M.D., from the Korea University College of Medicine in Seoul, and colleagues conducted a population-based cohort study using the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Senior cohort involving 189,623 participants aged 65 years or older who were categorized as non-SLD or MASLD. The risk for SSNHL and Meniere disease was examined.

The researchers found that compared with the non-SLD group, participants with MASLD had higher metabolic dysfunction markers, including elevated body mass index, waist circumference, and blood pressure. There were 3,803 SSNHL events in the MASLD group during nine years of follow-up, with an incidence rate of 2.44 per 1,000 person-years. MASLD was associated with a significantly increased risk for SSNHL after inverse probability of treatment weighting (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.05; subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.06).

“This finding serves as an important indicator that reflects the impact of MASLD on disease progression from a prognostic perspective, rather than merely examining the occurrence of the disease itself,” the authors write.

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