Antidepressants and Risk of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: a Population-based Cohort Study

Background: Increasing numbers of animal studies have found that sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is related to the mechanism of serotonergic modulation. However, the relationship between antidepressants and SSNHL is unclear in humans. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the association between antidepressant use and risk of SSNHL.

Methods: Data from 218 466 antidepressant users and 1 116 518 nonusers were obtained from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. We used propensity-score matching (PSM) and inverse-probability treatment weighting (IPTW) to eliminate any bias. Each patient was tracked for 5 years to ascertain whether or not they were diagnosed with SSNHL. Cox proportional-hazard regression analyses were performed to calculate the SSNHL risk.

Results: The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of SSNHL for antidepressant users was 1.36 compared with nonusers in the full cohort study. The aHR for antidepressant users was 1.44 and 1.49 compared with the nonusers in the IPTW and PSM cohorts, respectively. All classes of antidepressants consistently increased the SSNHL risk. Additionally, patients receiving four classes of antidepressants were associated with a much higher SSNHL risk (aHR, 2.05) and those receiving one or two classes of antidepressants had a relatively lower SSNHL risk.

Conclusion: Antidepressants increased SSNHL risk, regardless of their class. Furthermore, patients who took a higher number of antidepressant classes showed an increased risk of developing SSNHL than those who took a lower number of antidepressant classes. Therefore, physicians should estimate the risks and benefits of antidepressant use and avoid prescribing antidepressants concurrently.