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Recent Research Results: Viagra May Contribute to Hearing Trouble

18th September, 2010 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Viagra and several similar medication which are used to treat erectile dysfunction problems, may eventually cause hearing loss, according to a recently released study.

The research was done by scientists at the University of Alabama Birmingham.

Viagra is classified as a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, or PDE-5i. Other well known brand names in this class include Levitra and Cialis.

The finding follows the 2007 decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revise labeling for such medications in hopes of more prominently displaying warnings about possible hearing loss risks. In the years preceding the FDA decision, the agency had been receiving a growing number of reports that men who used the “ED” drugs were experiencing ear problems and even some hearing loss.

Gerald McGwin, a professor of epidemiology at UAB’s School of Public Health, stated that “findings that the current government warning regarding hearing loss and use of PDE-5i drugs are warranted.”

While admitting there are some limitations to the scope of the UAB study, McGwin said men still need to educate themselves about ED drugs and talk to their doctor if they start noticing ear problems – especially hearing difficulties. In doing so, they might prevent any future hearing impairment.

Subjects who participated in the research had to be at least forty years of age. Approximately 11,500 men were surveyed. The information in the study had been collected by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the years between 2003 and 2006. Findings of the study indicated that men who used the PDE-5i class of medications experienced approximately double the chance of hearing loss compared to those who didn’t.

Researchers noted that the link between ED drugs and ear problems might be explained by considering the original purpose behind the development of PDE-5i medications. While Viagra is now mainly used for men with erectile challenges, it were initially intended for treating a form of hypertension.

Erectile dysfunction medications work by improving the flow of blood to certain areas of the body. It’s possible one of the areas that gets additional blood flow is the ear. However, increased blood flow to the ear may actually be harmful instead of beneficial – resulting in hearing loss.

Pfizer Corporation originally developed and marketed Viagra, which was the first erectile dysfunction treatment of its kind. It quickly gained the nickname, “The Little Blue Pill,” because of its color..

Pfizer “discovered” Viagra when chemists at the company’s research facility in Kent, England were working on a drug to treat a condition called hypertension angina pectoris (a type of high blood pressure related to heart disease. It was originally called Sildenafil.|Viagra was originally formulated at a Pfizer’s research facility in England as a treatment for high blood pressure related to heart disease. Chemists working on the project called the drug Sildenafil.} The original intent of Sildenafil was to relieve increase blood flow around the heart and bring relief from chest pains. While conducting clinical trials on Sildenafil in England, researchers noticed that it had an unintended side effect in relieving erectile dysfunction.

Pfizer decided to market the drug as Viagra and got a patent in 1996. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1998.

Thus, Viagra became the oral first drug of its kind. Several competitors developed brands of their own in the years that followed. In the first three years Viagra was on the market, more than one billion “little blue pills” were sold. Although sales growth has slowed in recent years, Pfizer still sells between 400 and 450 million dollars worth of Viagra annually.

To learn more on related topics, click on what causes ear sounds and ear infections. Neal Kennedy is a former TV and radio journalist. To read more of his articles, visit Ear Health at http://www.ear-health.info.