Age-Related Hearing Loss: Predicted Age-Specific Incidence, Based on Cross-Sectional, Age-Specific Prevalences, Compared with Observed Age-Specific Incidences from a Longitudinal Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cotch MF ; Della Santina C ; Gudnason V ; Hoffman HJ ; Launer LJ ; Li C-M ; Petersen H ; Themann, Christa L.
• Description:
  Introduction: Prevalence is frequently measured in cross-sectional health surveys. While prevalence is important, so is incidence: the number of new cases observed (e.g., hearing impairment) within a specified duration. Because longitudinal studies are costly and time-consuming, statistical approaches have been used to convert age-specific prevalence into 'predicted' age-specific incidence for irreversible, nonfatal conditions (Leske, 1981). Objective: Determine efficacy of using predicted, in lieu of observed, incidence for age-related hearing loss (ARHL). Methods: Trained staff of The Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility- Reykjavik Study, 2002-2006, conducted pure-tone, air-conduction audiometric exams on a population-based cohort of 5,172 adults aged 66-96 years. Repeat hearing exams were performed five years later (n=3,049). Hearing thresholds were measured in sound isolation booths at frequencies 0.5-8 kHz. We defined hearing impairment (HI) using the WHO-Global Burden of Disease classification: better ear (BE), pure-tone average (PTA) of thresholds at 0.5,1,2,4 kHz (PTA5124) >/= 35 dB hearing level (HL). The prediction method used logistic regression to smooth age-specific HI prevalences and transformed these with simple functional equations to convert smoothed prevalences into predicted 5-year HI incidences. Results: For 3,049 older adults studied longitudinally, HI prevalence was 25.1% at initial exam and increased to 42.7% five years later. For women, age-specific, 5-year predicted incidence estimates were closely aligned with observed incidences at younger ages, 66-77 years, but diverged as age increased. The pattern was similar for men, although divergence occurred much earlier at age 70. After stratifying for reported noise exposure history prior to initial exam, the predicted incidence was significantly higher (p<0.001) than observed incidence. Men without noise exposure history had a pattern similar to women. With or without noise exposure history, the observed 5-year incidences for men were almost identical across all ages. However, the observed incidence for women was significantly increased compared to men; this results in convergence of HI prevalence for men and women past 85 years of age. For more extreme degrees of hearing impairment, e.g., BE PTA5124 >/= 50 dB HL, the predicted and observed incidences were nearly identical across the whole older adult age range. Conclusions: Our results illustrate some drawbacks in predicting ARHL incidence from age-specific prevalence. Men who reported prior noise exposure had increased levels of predicted versus observed incidence, probably attributable to higher initial HI prevalence. Our finding of increased HI incidence for older women is significant. This study confirms other studies reporting no association between prior noise exposure and incident HI in older adults. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Aging Cohort Studies Epidemiology Hearing Loss Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety Sex Characteristics

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• Keywords:
  Age Factors Cohort Studies Gender Factors Hearing Impairment Hearing Loss Noise Exposure
• ISSN:
  0742-3152
• Publisher:
  Association for Research in Otolaryngology
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  38
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061020
• Citation:
  Abstr Midwinter Res Meet Assoc Res Otolaryngol 2015 Feb; 38:190
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Abstracts of the 38th Midwinter Research Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Febuary 21-25, 2015, Baltimore, Maryland
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:150abdb8a5fdbbaa743dbca4246c0a90bc62cb8b4813c55ec440f97480ea4585a012a40ba0b8bb93d176bb951185d32e0e155dbbdfc7dee0f91642aa0d62c659
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224716/cdc_224716_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 843.05 KB ]