Effects of estrogen therapy on hearing in postmenopausal women Esra Bulgan Kilicdag, MD, a Haluk Yavuz, MD, b Tayfun Bagis, MD, a, * Ebru Tarim, MD, a Alper Nabi Erkan, MD, b Ferah Kazanci, MD a Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology a and Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, b Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey Received March 16, 2003; revised May 29, 2003; accepted June 13, 2003 – Objective: This study was undertaken to investigate how hormone therapy affects hearing in post- menopausal women. Study design: This prospective study involved 109 postmenopausal women. Twenty of the women were using estrogen therapy (ET group), 30 women were using hormone therapy (HT group), and 59 had not received hormone therapy of any kind (control group). Otoscopic examination revealed normal tympanic membranes in all 109 subjects. Each individual was tested with low- (250-2000 Hz) and high-frequency audiometry (4000-16000 Hz). Duration of hormone therapy was recorded, and patient characteristics (age, type of menopause, time since onset of menopause), body mass in- dex (BMI), and hearing test results in the ET, HT, and control groups were compared. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment (ET and HT group) and control groups with respect to age, BMI, or time since onset of menopause. The mean time on HT and ET was 4.13 G 2.41 years and 3.35 G 2.20 years, respectively. The mean air con- duction results at low frequencies (250, 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz) in the ET group were signifi- cantly higher than the corresponding findings in the control group (P ! .001) and than the HT group (P ! .001). When the same comparisons were made between the HT group and the control group, none of the differences was statistically significant (P O .05). The mean air-conduction re- sults at high frequencies (4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 kHz) in the ET group were significantly higher than the corresponding results in the HT group (P ! .008). ET versus controls and HT versus controls at high frequencies revealed no significant differences (P O .05). The mean bone conduc- tion results in the ET group were significantly higher than the corresponding findings in the con- trol group (P ! .016). Analysis of the same comparisons between the HT-ET and HT-control groups revealed no significant differences (P O .05). Conclusion: Estrogen therapy may slow down hearing loss in aging postmenopausal women; how- ever, further studies of larger series are needed to confirm this, and the sites of hormonal action must also be explored. Ó 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. KEY WORDS Estrogen therapy Hormone therapy Hearing loss Postmenopausal – * Reprint requests: Tayfun Bagis, Guzelyali Mah. Adnan Kahveci Bul 15.Sok, Bilgin Apt Kat: 6 No. 11, Seyhan-Adana, Turkey. E-mail: bagistayfun@hotmail.com 0002-9378/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2003.06.001 www.elsevier.com/locate/ajog American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (2004) 190, 77e82