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Video

Care Equity, Quality, and Safety

(A143) Prevalence of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Native Hawaiian Population

Monday, October 13, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT
Location: OTO EXPO, Posters

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Grace A. Johnson, MD

    Resident
    Tripler Army Medical Center
    Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • JL

    Jae Lim, MD, Ph,D

    Surgeon; Assistant Clinical Professor
    HPMG/ John A Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii
    Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Disclosure(s):
Grace A. Johnson, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Jae Lim, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.


Introduction: Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders (NHPI) continue to experience disparities in health care. Reflected by their higher rates of chronic diseases including hypertension, asthma and diabetes. The Otolaryngology Clinic providers at Kaiser Medial Center observed increased rates of NHPI patients presenting with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. It is hypothesized that the NHPI are significantly more likely to experience sudden sensorineural hearing loss compared to all other races.

Methods: This is a retrospective chart review at a tertiary medical center in Honolulu Hawaii from 2015 to 2023 reviewing the prevalence of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHNL) and race. Patients' charts were reviewed for ICD-10 codes which included right, left or bilateral SSHNL and documented race.

Results: In total, 257,467 patient charts were analyzed, of which 42,013 were Hawaiian while the remaining 215,454 were categorized as non-Hawaiian. 97 Hawaiians had history of SSNHL, while 645 non-Hawaiians had a history of SSNHL. A chi-square test of independence was performed to examine the relation between Hawaiian race and SSNHL. Preliminary results from the study are remarkable for a significant relation between the variables, X2 (1, N = 257467) = 5.71, p = .016. Significant at p < .05.

Conclusions: It was observed in our tertiary care medical center that there was an increase in NHPI patients presenting with SSNHL. Our study revealed that there is a statistically significant increased risk of SSNHL in NHPI patients. This finding is concerning, considering patients of Native Hawaiian descent already experience disparities in healthcare. It sheds light on the need to investigate the barriers to healthcare that NHPI patients face and provide effective care at an appropriate time. Our preliminary data does not account for the comorbid conditions that affect both Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians. Further investigation is currently on-going to evaluate whether concomitant chronic diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension take part in the development of sudden SNHL.