No evidence of sudden hearing loss following vaccination against COVID-19

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-12-16 03:00

International

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A large international study found no evidence of an increase in the risk of hearing loss after the COVID-19 vaccine, according to researchers. The study of 5.5 million Finnish residents tested for hearing loss over 55 days after receiving a Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19. They found that even after three doses, there was no evidence of an increased risk of hearing loss. This study's findings are different to an earlier study from Israel which found an increased risk of hearing loss after the vaccine, but the authors of the current study say they adjusted for additional scenarios such as preexisting diseases, which the previous study did not consider.

Media release

From: JAMA

Sudden Hearing Loss Following Vaccination Against COVID-19

JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery
Original Investigation

About The Study: The results of this study of 5.5 million Finnish residents show no evidence of an increased risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss following COVID-19 vaccination. The study accounted for previous disease and other potential confounding factors. These results are based on diagnosis codes in specialized care but still need to be verified in settings that are capable of evaluating the degree of hearing loss. A large previous study found an increased risk for sudden sensorineural hearing loss following vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Journal/
conference: JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland

Funder: No funding information supplied

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