Associations Between Body Composition and Sensorineural Hearing Loss Among Adults Based on the UK Biobank

Objective To explore the association between body composition and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Study Design Cross‐sectional study, prospective study and Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses. Setting UK Biobank. Methods This cross‐sectional study included 147,296 adult participants with complete data on body composition and the speech‐reception‐threshold (SRT) test. We further conducted a prospective study with 129,905 participants without SNHL at baseline and followed up to 15 years to explore the association between body composition and new‐onset SNHL. Multivariable logistic regression and Cox regression models were used. Subgroup analyses stratified by age and sex were performed. We further assessed the causal association between body composition and SNHL using two‐sample MR analyses. Results Our cross‐sectional study revealed that fat percentage, especially leg (odds ratio [OR] 1.46, p = .029) and arm (OR 1.43, p = .004), were significant risk factors for SNHL. However, fat‐free mass, especially in the arm (OR 0.27, p