{"id":923,"date":"2023-10-20T15:29:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T19:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/?p=923"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:29:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T19:29:32","slug":"what-connects-hearing-loss-and-arthritis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/what-connects-hearing-loss-and-arthritis\/","title":{"rendered":"What Connects Hearing Loss and Arthritis?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5780710\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2018 study<\/a> analyzing the population-based insurance claims data from the Taiwan National Insurance Research Database compared 18,267 newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with 73,068 controls without RA to establish whether a connection between hearing loss and RA could be established.<\/p>\n<p>The study found that patients with RA were at a higher risk of developing sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), hearing loss associated with damage to the inner ear, than patients without RA.<\/p>\n<p>While hearing loss can develop independently of RA, there are two likely causes for the increased likelihood in RA patients, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ototoxic medications<\/li>\n<li>Immune system attacks on the inner ear<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at each of these causes a little more closely.<\/p>\n<h2>Ototoxic Medications<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Woman clenching her fists experiencing arthritis\" src=\"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Woman-cleanching-her-fists-experiencing-arthritis--768x512.jpg\" alt=\"Woman clenching her fists experiencing arthritis \" width=\"462\" height=\"308\" class=\"wp-image-926 alignright\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Woman-cleanching-her-fists-experiencing-arthritis--768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Woman-cleanching-her-fists-experiencing-arthritis-.jpg 1253w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Arthritis can cause pain, inflammation and swelling in the joints. Often, the pain can be severe and have an adverse impact on your daily life, making repetitive motions such as typing or playing a game of tennis at the Tower Hill Tennis Courts feel difficult or impossible. Many RA patients treat the pain and swelling with aspirin or acetaminophen, two medications known to have ototoxic effects.<\/p>\n<p>Ototoxic drugs are medications that cause <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asha.org\/public\/hearing\/ototoxic-medications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">temporary or permanent hearing loss and tinnitus<\/a>. While it may seem like an obvious choice to avoid taking them, many ototoxic medications are necessary to treat serious conditions such as cancer and high blood pressure.<\/p>\n<p>If your RA pain and swelling are severe, but you are concerned about the adverse side effects of ototoxic drugs, consider making an appointment with your provider to discuss alternative treatment methods.<\/p>\n<h2>Immune System Attacks on the Inner Ear<\/h2>\n<p>In some cases, hearing loss may not occur as a result of arthritis or the medication used to treat it but instead may stem from the same immune response. Researchers suspect hearing loss cases could be related to the faulty immune system response that attacks the joints and other tissues with autoimmune arthritis.<\/p>\n<p>An estimated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arthritis.org\/health-wellness\/about-arthritis\/related-conditions\/other-diseases\/arthritis-and-hearing-loss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20% of people<\/a> with autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) have another autoimmune disease such as RA. With AIED, the body\u2019s immune system <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asha.org\/articles\/autoimmune-inner-ear-disease\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attacks the cells in the inner ear<\/a>, leading to <a href=\"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/hearing-loss\/hearing-loss\/\">hearing loss<\/a> and tinnitus.<\/p>\n<p>While hearing loss may not always be preventable, <a href=\"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/hearing-loss\/hearing-tests\/\">scheduling a hearing test to establish baseline hearing<\/a> will help your provider track and treat your frequency loss over time. To schedule an appointment with one of our trusted specialists, call <span class=\"company-name \">Wilmington Audiology Services<\/span> today.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"related-posts\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/what-to-know-about-tinnitus-counseling\/\" class=\"related-post\">What To Know About Tinnitus Counseling?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/is-your-hearing-aid-functioning-improperly-and-what-to-do-if-it-is\/\" class=\"related-post\">Is Your Hearing Aid Functioning Improperly? (And What To Do If It Is)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/three-types-of-ear-infections-that-can-impact-your-hearing\/\" class=\"related-post\">Three Types of Ear Infections That Can Impact Your Hearing<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 2018 study analyzing the population-based insurance claims data from the Taiwan National Insurance Research Database compared 18,267 newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with 73,068 controls without RA to establish whether a connection between hearing loss and RA could be established. The study found that patients with RA were at a higher risk of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","schema":"","fname":"","lname":"","position":"","credentials":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","locid":"","rating":""},"categories":[5,6,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":928,"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923\/revisions\/928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilmingtonaudiology.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}