[Vascular risk factors of sudden deafness and its incidence in the normal population. A retrospective study].

We report the frequency of the vascular risk factors (overweight, hypertension, hypercholesterinaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia, hyperuricaemia, hyperglycaemia and smoking) in patients with sudden hearing loss. Analysis of 264 cases shows that only hyperuricaemia and hyperglycaemia are found more often in patients suffering from sudden deafness than in the normal population. There was a negative correlation between hearing improvement and the number of risk factors. Also the number of risk factors increased proportionally to the age of the patients. The patient's age and late treatment were the only unfavourable prognostic factors for hearing improvement.