Is Age-Related Maculopathy Related to Hearing Loss?

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Abstract
RETINAL DISEASE and hearing loss may occur together as a result of a number of inherited genetic conditions (eg, Usher and Alport syndromes)1-6 and delayed expression of intrauterine environmental exposures (eg, rubella and varicella).4,7,8 In a group of 10 patients with various causes of macular degeneration (Best disease [n=1], Stargardt disease [n=3], Behr disease [n=4], and early and late age-related maculopathy [ARM] [n=2]), Singh et al9 found 3 patients with hearing impairment, whereas none were found in a control group of 10 patients without macular degeneration. To our knowledge, there are no data available from population-based studies regarding a possible association of ARM and hearing loss in older individuals.