Even though steroids are recommended by doctors for treating sudden hearing loss, there is very little evidence suggesting that the administration of steroids is effective, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis both published in the June issue of Archives of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery.

Sudden hearing loss or sudden sensorineural hearing loss is an acute hearing impairment involving loss of a minimum of 30 decibels of hearing over at least 3 test frequencies occurring in three days, according to background information in the article. The condition affects 5-20 out of every 100,000 individuals on a yearly basis.

From News-Medical.Net:

Treatment varies widely and includes antiviral medications, vitamins, minerals, herbs, hyperbaric oxygen and agents that dilute the blood. “In addition, some otolaryngologists choose not to treat sudden sensorineural hearing loss at all, citing spontaneous recovery rates of 32 percent to 70 percent,” the authors write. “However, the most common approach to treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss in North America is with systemic steroids, which has been deemed by some authors to be the gold standard of treatment.”

Anne Elizabeth Conlin, B.A. & Sc., M.D., of the University of Ottawa, Ontario, and Lorne S. Parnes, M.D., F.R.C.S.C., of the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, searched for all randomized clinical trials evaluating treatments for sudden hearing loss published between 1966 and 2006.

For the systematic review, 21 trials were identified and evaluated, all of which used measures from hearing tests to define treatment outcomes. “Only two studies used identical criteria to define sudden sensorineural hearing loss,” the authors write. “The method of randomization was described in two studies. Validity scores ranged from two to eight (of nine). Positive results were reported favoring systemic steroids, intratympanic [inside the inner ear] steroids, batroxobin, magnesium, vitamin E and hyperbaric oxygen, although there were serious limitations in each study with a positive finding.”

It was remarked that treating sudden hearing loss can prove to be difficult as the cause of occurrence remains unknown in most of the reported cases.

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