Comparative study of oxidative stress in individuals with and without age related hearing loss

Background: Age related hearing loss is an universal feature of mammalian ageing and refers to sensorineural hearing impairment in elderly individuals. It was reported that increased generation of free radicals during cellular metabolism plays a major role in age related disorders. Therefore, the occurrence of age related hearing loss depends mainly on antioxidant status of the body. Hence, this study was undertaken to investigate the status of Glutathione and Superoxide dismutase in age related hearing loss.Methods: This study was conducted after the approval from institutional ethical committee. The study group included 25 patients diagnosed for age related hearing loss between the age group of 55-80 years of either sex and 25 healthy age and sex matched individuals as controls. Estimation of Glutathione was done by DTNB method and Superoxide Dismutaseusing standard procedures. The data was analysed using One Way ANOVA. P value less than 0.05 will be considered the level of significance.Results: The results showed that, the Glutathione level in Hearing Loss patients was increased significantly (p=0.0001) as compared to normal controls. The SOD Activity has declined significantly (p=0.001) in Hearing Loss patients as compared to normal controls.Conclusion: We found an association between the level of Glutathione and Super Oxide Dismutase in age related hearing loss. Thus the serum Glutathione and Super Oxide Dismutase level can be used as a biomarker for the assessment of age related hearing loss.