Population-Based Age Adjustment Tables for Use in Occupational Hearing Conservation Programs

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Int J Audiol
• Personal Author:
  Flamme, Gregory A. ; Deiters, Kristy K. ; Stephenson, Mark R. ; Themann, Christa L. ; Murphy, William J. ; Byrne, David C. ; Goldfarb, David G. ; Zeig-Owens, Rachel ; Hall, Charles ; Prezant, David J. ; Cone, James E.
• Description:
  Objective:
  
  In occupational hearing conservation programs, age adjustments may be used to subtract expected age effects. Adjustments used in the U.S. came from a small dataset and overlooked important demographic factors, ages, and stimulus frequencies. The present study derived a set of population-based age adjustment tables and validated them using a database of exposed workers.
  
  Design:
  
  Cross-sectional population-based study and retrospective longitudinal cohort study for validation.
  
  Study Sample:
  
  Data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (unweighted n = 9,937) were used to produce these tables. Male firefighters and emergency medical service workers (76,195 audiograms) were used for validation.
  
  Results:
  
  Cross-sectional trends implied less change with age than assumed in current U.S. regulations. Different trends were observed among people identifying with non-Hispanic Black race/ethnicity. Four age adjustment tables (age range: 18-85) were developed (women or men; non-Hispanic Black or other race/ethnicity). Validation outcomes showed that the population-based tables matched median longitudinal changes in hearing sensitivity well.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  These population-based tables provide a suitable replacement for those implemented in current U.S. regulations. These tables address a broader range of worker ages, account for differences in hearing sensitivity across race/ethnicity categories, and have been validated for men using longitudinal data.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Aged Aged, 80 And Over Cross-Sectional Studies Emergency Medical Technicians Female Firefighters Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Hearing Tests Humans Longitudinal Studies Male Middle Aged National Institute For Occupational Safety And Health, U.S. Noise, Occupational Nutrition Surveys Occupational Diseases Occupational Health Reference Standards Reference Values Retrospective Studies Statistics As Topic United States Young Adult

  More +
• Keywords:
  Aging Demographics/Epidemiology Hearing Conservation/Hearing Loss Prevention Noise
• Source:
  Int J Audiol. 59(sup1):S20-S30
• Pubmed ID:
  31846396
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10108722
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  59
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:774f608174a45912cad1c50fa357d13f3ca74827361fb4ac2cf7bb53b9dd45ab9b0a4b1d2046717539f1a8e15055c01e6e1986f0198abf54dea951149d084c6c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/127272/cdc_127272_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 802.39 KB ]