Effectiveness of oral zinc supplementation in the treatment of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL).

OBJECTIVE

Investigate the benefit of zinc supplement combined with standard treatment ofidiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) patients.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

A prospective, randomized study was designed to evaluate the hearing outcomes in ISSNHL patients treated with zinc supplement. The patients were randomized into two groups, the study and the control group. The study group received oral chelated zinc with standard treatment (oral prednisolone), while the control group received standard treatment alone. Hearing improvement was assessed from pure-tone average (PTA) and speech discrimination scores (SDS).

RESULTS

After treatment, significant hearing improvement was noted in both groups regarding PTA value (p = 0.016, 0.025). SDS was also improved in both groups but with no statistical significance (p > 0.05). Post-treatment PTA and SDS values between the zinc and control groups were not statistically different (p > 0.05). Hearing improvement was documented in eight of 16 patients in the study group and seven of 14 patients in the control group. This was no significant difference (p = 1.000).

CONCLUSION

Zinc supplementation does not have benefit when combined with standard treatment. Nevertheless, more subjects and well-designed studies are needed to verify the effect of zinc.