Interaction between hypertension and diabetes mellitus in the pathogenesis of sensorineural hearing loss.

The purpose of this study is to support the hypothesis that diabetic end-organ damage of the cochlea is augmented in the setting of hypertension. A historical perspective reviewing the effects of diabetes and hypertension as causative factors in the development of sensorineural hearing loss, as well as the basic epidemiology and pathophysiology of the renal and vascular effects of diabetes and hypertension, is presented. The results of audiologic findings in insulin-dependent diabetic patients, both normotensive and hypertensive, were analyzed and correlated with the results of animal studies to support the hypothesis that sensorineural hearing loss in patients and cochlear hair cell loss in animal studies result from the effects of hypertension in conjunction with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.