Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers Linked to Hearing Loss
Categories: News
Plenty of women suspect their husbands of selective hearing loss, but it could be your spouse's failure to respond to your overtures to help with the dishes might be more legitimate than it appears.
Forget the loud music of his teenage years or his obsession with motorcycles and sports cars. That might not be the cause of his fading auditory senses anymore than a lack of desire to help around the house. According to a new study, men who regularly pop over-the-counter pain medication could be damaging their hearing.
The new study by researchers at the Channing Laboratory and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston published in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Medicine suggests that men under 50, in particular, who took acetaminophen two or more times weekly showed more than twice the risk for hearing loss when compared to men who are not regular pill poppers.
The active ingredient in Tylenol and numerous other OTC painkillers, acetaminophen wasn't the only culprit. The study also showed that men under 50 who regularly took non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen -- the active ingredient in Advil and Motrin, also had an increased risk or hearing loss. Aspirin users had about a third increased risk.
This isn't to say men should stop taking OTC painkillers, particularly if they've been directed to do so by a doctor.
"The overall absolute risk of professionally diagnosed hearing loss in the population that we studied is 1 percent per year," says lead study author Sharon G. Curhan, M.D.. "Those that take an analgesic have an increased risk beyond the 1 percent." Curhan says the risk seems low, but it's important to remember that over 10 years that risk increases to 10 percent in the population-at-large, and for men taking analgesics, that risk is, of course, proportionately higher.
"We are not trying to overemphasize the impact of analgesics," Dr. Curhan says, "however, this may be one of the few preventable causes of hearing loss."
So what do you do if you're taking aspirin daily under doctor's orders to decrease heart attack risk? The bottom line is to talk to your physician before you take medications, even OTC drugs, and to make sure the benefits of painkillers outweigh potential risks.
"It is not surprising that these medicines may be related to hearing loss," says Daniel Kantor, M.D., president-elect of the Florida Society of Neurology (FSN) and medical director of Neurologique , "but it could be that the cause-effect relationship is reversed --it could be that men who are already having sub-clinical hearing loss may be more likely to take these painkillers."
Dr. Kantor is a headache specialist, and he contends regularly with the side effects of painkillers. He cautions against getting too worked up over epidemiological studies. "We need to verify these findings in future studies," he says.
The findings are the result of the study of some 27,000 men enrolled in the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study at the Harvard School of Public Health, which began in 1986. At the start of the study, participants ranged in age from 40 to 74, and over the course of 18 years, almost 3,500 of the participants were diagnosed with hearing loss.
Within the study group, men under 50 had a 33 percent higher risk of hearing loss with regular use of aspirin, 61 percent higher risk with NSAIDs, and a 99 percent higher risk with acetaminophen compared to their study counterparts who were not regularly users of OTC painkillers.
Women were not part of the study, and Curhan says she would not expect to have the same results in women since their rate of hearing loss in the general population is different from men. "It will be important to do a further study in women as well," she says.
More on Hearing Loss From AOL Health:
Hearing Loss: Sidestepping Some Common Conditions
Hearing Loss: A Guide to Prevention and Treatment
Forget the loud music of his teenage years or his obsession with motorcycles and sports cars. That might not be the cause of his fading auditory senses anymore than a lack of desire to help around the house. According to a new study, men who regularly pop over-the-counter pain medication could be damaging their hearing.
The new study by researchers at the Channing Laboratory and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston published in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Medicine suggests that men under 50, in particular, who took acetaminophen two or more times weekly showed more than twice the risk for hearing loss when compared to men who are not regular pill poppers.
The active ingredient in Tylenol and numerous other OTC painkillers, acetaminophen wasn't the only culprit. The study also showed that men under 50 who regularly took non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen -- the active ingredient in Advil and Motrin, also had an increased risk or hearing loss. Aspirin users had about a third increased risk.
This isn't to say men should stop taking OTC painkillers, particularly if they've been directed to do so by a doctor.
"The overall absolute risk of professionally diagnosed hearing loss in the population that we studied is 1 percent per year," says lead study author Sharon G. Curhan, M.D.. "Those that take an analgesic have an increased risk beyond the 1 percent." Curhan says the risk seems low, but it's important to remember that over 10 years that risk increases to 10 percent in the population-at-large, and for men taking analgesics, that risk is, of course, proportionately higher.
"We are not trying to overemphasize the impact of analgesics," Dr. Curhan says, "however, this may be one of the few preventable causes of hearing loss."
So what do you do if you're taking aspirin daily under doctor's orders to decrease heart attack risk? The bottom line is to talk to your physician before you take medications, even OTC drugs, and to make sure the benefits of painkillers outweigh potential risks.
"It is not surprising that these medicines may be related to hearing loss," says Daniel Kantor, M.D., president-elect of the Florida Society of Neurology (FSN) and medical director of Neurologique , "but it could be that the cause-effect relationship is reversed --it could be that men who are already having sub-clinical hearing loss may be more likely to take these painkillers."
Dr. Kantor is a headache specialist, and he contends regularly with the side effects of painkillers. He cautions against getting too worked up over epidemiological studies. "We need to verify these findings in future studies," he says.
The findings are the result of the study of some 27,000 men enrolled in the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study at the Harvard School of Public Health, which began in 1986. At the start of the study, participants ranged in age from 40 to 74, and over the course of 18 years, almost 3,500 of the participants were diagnosed with hearing loss.
Within the study group, men under 50 had a 33 percent higher risk of hearing loss with regular use of aspirin, 61 percent higher risk with NSAIDs, and a 99 percent higher risk with acetaminophen compared to their study counterparts who were not regularly users of OTC painkillers.
Women were not part of the study, and Curhan says she would not expect to have the same results in women since their rate of hearing loss in the general population is different from men. "It will be important to do a further study in women as well," she says.
More on Hearing Loss From AOL Health:
Hearing Loss: Sidestepping Some Common Conditions
Hearing Loss: A Guide to Prevention and Treatment
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