3,522
Views
2
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Association of beta blocker use and hearing ability in adults: a cross-sectional study

, , , & ORCID Icon
Pages 102-107 | Received 17 Nov 2020, Accepted 06 Apr 2021, Published online: 31 May 2021
 

Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the potential association between beta blocker use and hearing ability in adults and to discern whether this effect is dose-dependent.

Design

Cross-sectional analyses. Multiple linear regression was performed with hearing ability as the dependent variable and beta blocker use as the independent variable. The independent variable was classified into three dose categories for secondary analysis. Adjustments were made for age, gender, educational level, and tobacco smoking status.

Study sample

1636 adults, 75 of whom reported being on beta blockers, from the internet-based Netherlands Longitudinal Study on Hearing (NL-SH).

Results

No significant association was found between beta blocker use and hearing ability in noise. In the adjusted regressions, beta blocker use changed the speech reception threshold in noise (SRT) by −0.04 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (95%CI [−0.67 to 0.58], p = 0.890). Medium dose beta blocker use changed SRT by −0.42 dB SNR (95%CI [−1.38 to 0.71], p = 0.433), while a high dose changed it by −0.26 dB SNR (95%CI [−1.74 to 1.4], p = 0.767).

Conclusions

No evidence was found for beta blocker-induced changes in hearing ability. Future studies on this topic should favour case-control and cohort study designs, while focussing on a hypertensive population to minimise confounding by indication.

Ethical approval

Subjects gave written informed consent and the study protocol was approved by the Amsterdam University Medical Centre’s medical ethics committee.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participants on the Netherlands Longitudinal Study on Hearing (NL-SH).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Data collection between 2005 and 2010 for this study was financially supported by the Heinsius-Houbolt Foundation, the Netherlands.