Prevalence and influence factors of hearing impairment among rural senior people in Qingdao municipality

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.