Skip to main content
  • Original article
  • Open access
  • Published:

Folic acid and vitamin-B12 in idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss in children

En

Abstract

Aim

The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of vitamin-B12 and folate blood concentrations in children suffering from moderate, severe, and severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).

Materials and methods

This study was conducted on 95 children: 30 children with severe-to-profound SNHL who were scheduled for cochlear implantation, 25 children who are hearing aid users for moderate and severe SNHL, and another 40 healthy volunteers considered as the control group. Full audiological examination was performed to all children, as well as computed tomographic scan and MRI to temporal bone were performed for the SNHL groups.

Results

Median vitamin-B12 and folic acid levels were significantly higher in the control group 3 than in the SNHL groups 1 and 2 patients (P < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between vitamin-B12 and folic acid levels and the other parameters. There was no significant difference between groups 1 and 2 with respect to median vitamin-B12 and folic acid level.

Conclusion

Study demonstrated that the serum levels of folate and vitamin-B12 are decreased in patients with SNHL. Measurement of folic acid and vitamin-B12 in patients suffering SNHL might be useful. These data may give us some clues about how hearing loss is developed in these patients.

References

  1. Abdel-Hamid O, Khatib OM, Aly A, Morad M, Kamel S. Prevalence and patterns of hearing impairment in Egypt: a national household survey. East Mediterr Health J 2007; 13: 1170–1180.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Gunther T, Ising H, Joachims Z. Biochemical mechanisms affecting susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss. Am J Otol 1989; 10: 36–41.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. De Wals P, Tairou F, Van Allen MI, Uh SH, Lowry RB, Sibbald B et al. Reduction in neural-tube defects after folic acid fortification in Canada. N Engl J Med 2007; 357: 135–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Shemesh Z, Attias J, Ornan M, Shapira N, Shahar A. Vitamin B 12 deficiency in patients with chronic tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss. Am J Otolaryngol 1993; 14: 94–99.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Houston DK, Johnson MA, Nozza RJ, Gunter EW, Shea KJ, Cutler GM, et al. Age-related hearing loss, vitamin B-12, and folate in elderly women. Am J Clin Nutr 1999; 69:564–571.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Quaranta A, Scaringi A, Bartoli R, Margarito MA, Quaranta N. The effects of ‘supra-physiological’ vitamin B12 administration on temporary threshold shift. Int J Audiol 2004; 43: 162–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Berner B, Odum L, Parving A. Age-related hearing impairment and B vitamin status. Acta Otolaryngol 2000; 120: 633–637.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lasisi AO, Fehintola FA, Yusuf OB. Vitamin B12, and folate in the elderly. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2010; 143: 826–830.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Gopinath B, Flood VM, Rochtchina E, McMahon CM, Mitchell P. Serum homocysteine and folate concentrations are associated with prevalent age-related hearing loss. J Nutr 2010; 140: 1469–1474.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Nour El-Din SM, Hamed L. Sensorineural hearing impairment is a common feature of consanguineous marriage. Egypt J Hum Genet 2008;9:121–7.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ueland PM. Homocysteine species as components of plasma redox thiol status. Clin Chem 1995; 41: 340–342.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Genest J, Malinow MR. Homocysteine and coronary artery disease. Curr Opin Lipidol 1992; 3: 295–299.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Mattson MP, Kruman II, Duan W. Folic acid and homocysteine in age-related disease. Ageing Res Rev 2002; 1: 95–111.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. De Bree A, Verschuren WM, Blom HJ, Kromhout D. Association between B vitamin intake and plasma homocysteine concentration in the general Dutch population aged 20–65 y. Am J Clin Nutr 2001; 73: 1027–1033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Selhub J, Jacques PF, Wilson PW, Rush D, Rosenberg IH. Vitamin status and intake as primary determinants of homocysteinemia in an elderly population. JAMA 1993; 270: 2693–2698.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Brattstrom L. Lowering blood homocysteine with folic acid based supplements: meta analysis of randomized trials. Br Med J 1998; 316: 894–898.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Panakhian VM. Marriage of blood relatives and congenital deafness. Vestn Otorinolaringol 2005; 2: 22–24.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Zeng FG. Trends in cochlear implants being made available to a larger population. Trends Amplif 2004; 8: 1–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Marazita ML, Ploughman LM, Rawlings B, Remington E, Arnos KS, Nance WE. Genetic epidemiological studies of early onset deafness in the US school-age population. Am J Med Genet 1993; 46: 486–491.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Cohen MM, Gorlin RJ. In: Gorlin RJ, Toriello HV, Gohen MM, editors. Epidemiological, etiology and genetic patterns. Hereditary hearing loss and its syndromes. USA: Oxford University Press; 1995. 9–21.

    Google Scholar 

  21. WHO Report of the Informal Working Group On Prevention Of Deafness And Hearing Impairment Programme Planning. Geneva, 1991

  22. Mc-Capera FA, Behishi I. Selected chemical reactions that produce light. In: bioluminescence and chemiluminescence. Instruments and applications. Vol. 2 van Dyke. K., Ed. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1985, cap. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Ubbink JB, Vermaak WJH, van der Merwe A, Becker PJ. Vitamin B-12, vitamin B-6, and folate nutritional status in men with hyperhomocysteinemia. Am J Clin Nutr 1993; 57:47–53

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Osuntokun BO, Singh SP, Martinson FD. Deafness in tropical nutritional ataxic neuropathy. Trop Geogr Med 1970; 22: 281–288

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Shemesh Z, Attias J, Ornan M, Shapira N, Shahar A. Vitamin B12 deficiency in patients with chronic-tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss. Am J Otolaryngol 1993; 14: 94–99

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Roman GC. An epidemic in Cuba of optic neuropathy, sensorineural deafness, peripheral sensory neuropathy and dorsolateral myeloneuropathy. J Neurol Sci 1994; 127: 11–28

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Durga J, Verhoef P, Anteunis LJC, Schouten E, Kok FJ. Effects of folic acid supplementation on hearing in older adults. Ann Intern Med 2007; 146: 1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Park S, Johnson MA, Shea-Miller K, De Chicchis AR, Allen RH, Stabler SP. Age-related hearing Loss, Methylmalonic Acid, and Vitamin B12 Status in Older Adults. J Nutr Elder 2006; 25: 105–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Welch GN, Loscalzo J. Homocysteine and atherothrombosis. N Engl J Med. 1998; 338: 1042–1050

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Loscalzo J. Folate and nitrate-induced endothelial dysfunction: A simple treatment for a complex pathobiology. Circulation 2001; 104: 1086–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Honein MA, Paulozzi LJ, Mathews TJ, Erickson JD, Wong LY. Impact of folic acid fortification of the US food supply on the occurrence of neural tube defects. JAMA 2001; 285: 2981–2986

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Hughes G. Molecular and cellular biology of the inner ear: the next frontier. Am J Otol. 1989; 10: 28–35

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Krasinski SD, Russell RM, Samloff IM, Jacob RA, Dallal GE, McGandy RB, et al. Fundic atrophic gastritis in an elderly population: effect on hemoglobin and several serum nutritional indicators. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1986; 34: 800–806

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Gates GA, Couropmitree NN, Myers RH. Genetic associations in age-related hearing thresholds. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1999; 125: 1285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Fine E, Soria E, Paroski M, Petryk D, Thomasula L. The neurophysiological profile of vitamin B12 deficiency. Muscle Nerve 1990; 13: 158–164

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohamed Amir MD.

Additional information

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Rights and permissions

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Taha, M.S., Amir, M., Mahmoud, H. et al. Folic acid and vitamin-B12 in idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss in children. Egypt J Otolaryngol 30, 322–326 (2014). https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.144964

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.144964

Keywords