A recently released study, posted online on June 26, suggested that a sudden loss of hearing might be a sign of an impending stroke, foreshadowing an actual cerebrovascular event by as much as 2 years.

The results of this study have been reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. The study will appear in the October issue of the medical journal, ‘Stroke’.

Five-year follow-up data on 1,423 patients hospitalized for an acute episode of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) showed that those patients were 1.5 times more likely to suffer a stroke than a control group of 5,692 patients who had been hospitalized for an appendectomy.

However, according to Dr. Herng-Ching Lin, these findings are limited because there is not a clear universal definition for SSNHL in the database that was reviewed. Secondly, the database did not contain information regarding severity of hearing loss, extent of hearing recovery, tobacco use, body mass index, and the medical history of cardiovascular disease and atrial fibrillation -- all of which can contribute to stroke risk.

On the other hand, the researchers recommend all SSNHL patients to undergo a comprehensive neurological exam and blood testing to gauge their risk profile for stroke.