Migraineurs are more likely to have subjective hearing loss and tinnitus compared to non-migraineurs, according to an American study.

In the study, 25% of people with migraines had subjective hearing loss compared to 16.6% of people without migraines. 34.6% of those with migraines experienced tinnitus compared to 16.9% among the non-migraineurs.

This means that people with migraines have an increased odds ratio of 1.5 for subjective hearing loss and tinnitus compared to people without migraines, according to the study.

Both hearing loss and tinnitus

Among migraineurs, a higher proportion of those with tinnitus also had subjective hearing loss compared to those without tinnitus and a higher proportion of those with subjective hearing loss also had tinnitus compared to those without hearing loss.

In patients with tinnitus or subjective hearing loss, migraines were reported among 35.6% and 24.5% of the patients respectively.

About the study

The study used data from 1999 to 2004 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database and included 12,962 people. 2,657 of the people had migraines (20.5%), 2,344 said that they had hearing loss (18.1%) and 2,582 and said they had tinnitus, (19.9%).

The study, “Tinnitus and Subjective Hearing Loss are More Common in Migraine: A Cross-Sectional NHANES Analysis”, was published in the journal Otology & Neurotology.

Earlier studies have found that migraines increase the risk of both hearing loss and tinnitus.

Sources https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ and the journal Otology & Neurotology.