High Body Mass Linked to
Hearing Loss in Women ........A high body mass and a large waist are both
associated with self-reported hearing loss, a new study has found. Researchers used data from a 20-year
prospective study of 68,421 women who
were25 to 42 years old at the start. After
controlling for age, smoking, diabetes,
hypertension and other factors, they found
that the higher the body mass index, the greater the risk for hearing loss. Compared
with women with a B.M.I. under 25, those with
an index of 25 to 29 had an 8 percent increased
risk. The numbers kept going up in tandem: 11
percent for 30 to 34, 16 percent for 35 to 39
and 19 percent for those above 40. The increasing risk associated with larger waist
circumference followed a similar pattern. The study, published in the December issue of The American Journal of Medicine, found that
moderate physical activity — as little as four
hours of walking a week — also reduced the
risk for hearing loss. Researchers found no
further advantage in more vigorous exercise. The lead author, Dr. Sharon G. Curhan, a
clinical researcher at Brigham and Women’s
Hospital in Boston, suggested that obesity
might compromise blood flow to the inner ear,
and that exercise might improve it, which
could explain the associations. “Hearing loss may not be an inevitable part of
growing older,” she said. “There may be things
we can do to prevent it.”