According to a systematic review and meta-analysis both published in an issue of Archives of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, there is very little evidence to suggest that steroids are effective for treating sudden hearing loss.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss is a severe hearing impairment condition in which there is a loss of hearing of about 30 decibels over a minimum of three test frequencies in three days.

From News-Medical.Net:

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.”

This includes the article cited as the landmark study for the use of steroids, which was not described as a randomized trial and therefore may have produced exaggerated treatment effects, the authors note. The authors suggest that this study also used inconsistent doses of steroids and did not measure outcomes at the same time for all participants. “The study therefore does not inform the otolaryngologist of what dose of steroids to use, nor at what time after treatment to expect improvement,” the authors write.

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, made concrete efforts to identify all randomized clinical trials concerned with evaluating sudden hearing loss treatments published between 1966 and 2006.

It was highlighted during the study that systematic steroids cannot be considered as the gold treatment standard for treating sudden sensorineural hearing loss because of the severe complications of the landmark study supporting their use.

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