Two studies yesterday in JAMA Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery explore sudden hearing loss after COVID-19 vaccination, one finding no link and the other showing a marginally higher incidence among Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine recipients.Relative number of reports declined over timeA team led by Johns Hopkins University researchers investigated 555 cases of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) among adults within 3 weeks of COVID-19 vaccination reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) during the first 7 months of the US COVID vaccine rollout (Dec 14, 2020, to Jul 16, 2021).The patients had received the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine.
The study period spanned the administration of nearly 187 million vaccine doses in the United States.In addition to the cross-sectional study, the authors also analyzed a multicenter, retrospective case series of 21 patients at two hospitals and one community practice who experienced SSNHL after COVID-19 vaccination.SSNHL is unexplained hearing loss occurring all at once or gradually over a few days.
The researchers noted that anecdotal reports of post-COVID vaccination have recently emerged among otolaryngologists and the public."Otolaryngologists encounter increasing challenges to promoting public health conduct recommended during the pandemic when they are counseling and evaluating patients who have developed SSNHL and reported a temporal association with COVID-19 vaccination," the study authors wrote.Average age of the 555 patients was 54 years, 55% were women, and average time from vaccination to SSNHL onset was 6 days.