2 painkillers a week raises women’s risk of going deaf

WOMEN who take paracetamol or ibuprofen a couple of times a week could be permanently damaging their hearing, a study claims.

Taking as little as two painkillers a week for more than six years has been linked with significant hearing loss, with the drugs thought to cut blood supply to the inner ear and expose it to noise damage.

Researchers said that as many as one in 20 women suffering partial deafness could blame their painkiller use, with continued use of the drugs found to raise the risk of developing hearing loss by almost 10 per cent.

The findings back up similar research in men, suggesting that middle-aged women who commonly take paracetamol and ibu- profen for headaches and back pain should consider cutting down.

Almost one in 12 women take paracetamol on two days of every week, the US study found, usually to ward off routine aches and pains. This could be only two pills over the two days, or a greater dose.

But when taken this often for more than six years, paracetamol, ibuprofen and non- steroid anti-inflammatory drugs raise the risk of developing hearing loss by 9 per cent.

Aspirin, which now tends to be taken in lower doses, was not associated with loss of hearing.

This was found by examining 55,850 women over 25 years from the age of 44 to 69 – almost half of whom reported a hearing problem. Around one in six people in the UK have hearing problems, which can leave people feeling cut off and lonely and has been found to speed up memory loss and dementia.

The study, by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, suggests this could be down to paracetamol, which evidence shows can reduce the blood supply to the cochlea, or inner ear.

Paracetamol is also believed to deplete antioxidants within the ear, making the cochlea more vulnerable to noiseinduced damage.

Painkillers also damage the tiny hairs within the ear that help us hear and have been linked with a higher risk of hearing loss in younger and older women.

The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology, states: ‘If this is a causal relation, it suggests that a substantial proportion of hearing loss attributable to use of analgesics [painkillers] is potentially preventable.’

Senior author Dr Gary Curhan said: ‘Hearing loss is extremely common and can have a profound impact on quality of life.

‘Finding modifiable risk factors could help us identify ways to lower risk before hearing loss begins and slow progression in those with hearing loss.

‘Although the magnitude of higher risk of hearing loss with analgesic use was modest, given how commonly these medications are used, even a small increase in risk could have important health implications.’ It is the first study on the duration of paracetamol use and hearing loss, taken as any damage to the ears after 1990 in women who participated in the US Nurses’ Health Study.

Last night Sohaila Rastan, executive director of biomedical research at charity Action on Hearing Loss, said: ‘This study suggests that there may be a small increased risk of hearing loss in women who take over-the- counter painkillers for a long period of time.

‘However, more research is needed to establish whether painkillers are the actual cause of this hearing loss or if other factors are involved.

‘It would also be important to understand how painkillers might be damaging the ear, if they are indeed the cause.’

‘Important health implications’