Research published online February 21 in “JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery” found that HIV is associated with an increased risk of developing sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL). Researcher Charlene Lin of the University of California in Berkeley and colleagues conducted a retrospective, population-based study with 8,760 Taiwanese patients with HIV and 43,800 control subjects to examine the risk for developing SSHL in patients diagnosed with HIV. The researchers found that HIV-infected patients in the 18–35-year-old age group demonstrated an SSHL risk 2.17 times higher than the control group. In men, the SSHL risk among HIV-infected patients was even higher, at 2.23 times that of the control group. The association was not found in patients older than 35 years of age.

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