Abstract:
ObjectiveTo explore the prevalence and influence factors of hearing impairment among a rural senior population in Qingdao,Shandong province.
MethodsTotally 2 137 residents aged 50 years and older(902 males and 1 235 females)were randomly selected from rural areas of Qingdao municipality and tested with binaural hearing at 0.5,1,2,and 4 kHz,respectively.Twelve-hour fasting blood glucose,triglyceride,and total cholesterol were also measured.
ResultsAmong the senior people,the prevalence of hearing impairment was 50.6% and the prevalence of hearing disability was 12.7%.Monovariant analyses showed that age,gender,marriage status,education,and monthly income were associated with the average hearing threshold(
P<0.05),while age,gender,marriage status,education,current smoking,current alcohol drinking,cholesterol level,and triglyceride level were associated with high frequency hearing threshold(
P<0.05).The multivariate regression analyses showed that older age(odds ratio
OR=1.140 or
OR=1.116) was a risk fator for hearing impairment,while female gender(
OR=0.681),higher income(
OR=0.802) smoking(
OR=0.440),no alcohol drinking(
OR=0.442),normal level of cholesterol(
OR=0.795),and normal triglyceride(
OR=0.699)in blood were protective factors for hearing impairment.
ConclusionAge,gender,income,smoking,alcohol drinking,and blood lipid are related to hearing loss among rural elder residents.