Stroke risk in African Americans with subclinical auditory dysfuntion evidenced by Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions: the Jackson heart study

Abstract

Objective: Distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) are sensitive to early indices of cochlear pathology. Pathology to the cochlea is in part mediated by ischaemic related mechanisms. We propose that DPOAEs may provide an objective measure of cardiovascular risk.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Study sample: The relationships between stroke risk and DPOAEs of 1,107 individuals from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), an all-African-American cohort, were assessed. Linear regression models were used for analysis among all participants and delimited to normal hearing, defined as either a pure-tone threshold average of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz (PTA4) ≤ 25 dBHL or pure-tone thresholds for all individual tested frequencies for each ear (500, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz) ≤ 25 dBHL.

Results: We observed a significant inverse relationship between DPOAE amplitudes and stroke risk scores in the pooled cohort and in the subgroups with normal hearing defined by pure tone thresholds. Participants in the high-risk group had significantly lower DPOAE amplitudes than those in the low stroke risk group.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that auditory dysfunction as measured by DPOAEs are related to stroke risk. Further prospective studies are needed to determine if DPOAEs could be used as a predictive tool for cardiovascular disease.

Keywords:

• Stroke risk
• DPOAE
• ischaemic microvascular disease
• cerebrovascular disease
• The Jackson Heart Study
• African Americans

Acknowledgments

We would like to extend our gratitude to all of the courageous participants of the JHS cohort and to the entire JHS organization for its tremendous work in cardiovascular disease research and prevention in our community.

Disclosure statement

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

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institutes of Health; or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Institute on Deafness and Communicative Disorders 5-R01-DC008371-01. The Jackson Heart Study (JHS) is supported and conducted in collaboration with Jackson State University [HHSN268201300049C and HHSN268201300050C], Tougaloo College [HHSN268201300048C], and the University of Mississippi Medical Centre [HHSN268201300046C and HHSN268201300047C] contracts from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The authors also wish to thank the staffs and participants of the JHS.