Are they deaf from Viagra?
Gerald McGwin, professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has identified a relationship between hearing loss and taking Viagra.
Data published in the May issue of Archives of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery in the article "Phosphodiesterase Type 5 Inhibitor Use and Hearing Impairment" indicate that a potential delayed side effect of taking Viagra is hearing loss. It is possible that other drugs have a similar side effect, the active substance of which are phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE-5i), such as Cialis and Levitra, but the results concerning these drugs are ambiguous.
In 2007, based on a report on several clinical cases demonstrating a suspected relationship between taking PDE-5i and sudden hearing loss, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made appropriate changes to the instructions for the use of drugs of this class.
According to McGuinn, the results of his first epidemiological study on this problem indicate the expediency of the measures taken. He admits that the work he has done has shortcomings, but emphasizes that the data obtained are sufficiently convincing to take measures to inform patients taking Viagra and its analogues about the signs and symptoms of hearing impairment and the need for immediate medical measures aimed at preventing irreversible consequences.
McGuinn analyzed data on 11,525 men over the age of 40, collected between 2003 and 2006 by the Commission on Medical Expenses at the Federal Agency for Research and Evaluation of the Quality of Medical Care in the United States. As a result, it turned out that taking drugs containing PDE-5i increased the risk of hearing loss by an average of two times. This side effect was more likely to develop in men taking sildenafil (Viagra) than in men taking tadalafil (Cialis) or vardenafil (Levitra), in whom the increased risk of hearing loss was statistically unreliable. However, McGuinn believes that this is partly due to the smaller size of the groups of men who took the last two drugs.
Drugs based on PDE-5i were originally developed for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension and are now widely used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Taking such drugs stimulates blood flow to certain tissues of the body. There is a fairly plausible hypothesis that the blood flow to the ear tissues caused by these drugs can cause damage fraught with hearing loss.
McGuinn notes that the reliability of the results obtained by him is limited by a number of factors: the insufficient size of samples of men who took tadalafil and vardenafil; possible silence about taking drugs; as well as such confusing parameters, such as, for example, the presence of various diseases that can lead to hearing loss. He believes that, given the irreversible nature of hearing loss and the associated deterioration in the quality of life, it is necessary to conduct additional research aimed at clarifying the identified relationship.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the University of Alabama at Birmingham: UAB Study Exams Hearing Loss, Viagra Use.
20.05.2010