Sarcopenia and Risk of Hearing Loss: A 2-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

We read with great interest where a prospective cohort study by Kawakami et al1 commented that muscle strength is associated with hearing loss in Japanese subjects. An observational study previously linked muscle mass to hearing loss.2 Both muscle mass and muscle strength belong to sarcopenia phenotypes. However, the association of sarcopenia with hearing loss needs to be further determined; due to the cohort study it is difficult to isolate residual confounders and the limitations of the race and size of the study population.