Articles Tagged with hearing loss

Women who are on hormone replacement therapy may be at a much higher risk of deafness. According to a new study, while menopause at an older age is already a high risk factor for hearing problems, hormone replacement therapy seems to exacerbate those risks.

Researchers have always known that women are at a high risk of suffering from hearing loss after menopause. Natural hormonal levels decline during this period of time, and doctors earlier believed that providing hormone replacement therapy could help protect menopausal women against hearing loss linked to menopause. The researchers in the new study found that women who used hormone therapy actually had higher risks of hearing issues. In fact, the risk increased with the duration of time that the woman was on hormone therapy. The longer the duration of the hormone replacement therapy, the greater the deafness risk.

The findings of the study come from an analysis of more than 81,000 women in the United States. The researchers are quick to point out that the results are not evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship between hormone driven therapy and a heightened deafness risk.