Dillard Lauren K, Matthews Lois J, Dubno Judy R
Department of Otolaryngology- Head & Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Rutledge Ave, MSC 550, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 19;15(1):13524. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-96937-0.
This study reports the incidence of hearing loss and associated factors, and differences across sex and race groups. Participants were from a longitudinal community-based cohort study. Hearing loss was defined as a pure-tone average of thresholds at frequencies 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 kHz > 25 dB HL in the worse ear. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models to determine demographic and health-related factors associated with incident hearing loss, in the entire sample and across sex (male/female) and race (White/Black) groups, separately. This study included 754 participants without hearing loss at baseline (mean age 56.7 [SD 16.2] years; 67.6% female; 24.2% racial Minority [22.9% Black]), contributing 3,771 person years (PY). The incidence rate of hearing loss was 44.8 (95% CI 38.5, 52.1) per 1000 PY, and incidence increased with age. In age-adjusted models, older age (unadjusted), male sex, noise exposure, and > 5 to 15 smoking pack years were associated with incident hearing loss; associations with noise exposure and smoking pack years did not remain in age-sex adjusted models. Some factors associated with incident hearing loss varied across sex and race groups. Interventions to prevent or manage hearing loss, which is a common public health concern, may vary across demographic groups.
本研究报告了听力损失的发生率及其相关因素，以及不同性别和种族群体之间的差异。参与者来自一项基于社区的纵向队列研究。听力损失定义为较差耳在0.5、1.0、2.0和4.0千赫频率处的纯音平均听阈>25分贝听力级。我们使用Cox比例风险回归模型来确定在整个样本以及按性别（男性/女性）和种族（白人/黑人）分组中与新发听力损失相关的人口统计学和健康相关因素。本研究纳入了754名基线时无听力损失的参与者（平均年龄56.7[标准差16.2]岁；67.6%为女性；24.2%为少数族裔[22.9%为黑人]），贡献了3771人年。听力损失的发病率为每1000人年44.8（95%置信区间38.5，52.1），且发病率随年龄增长而增加。在年龄调整模型中，年龄较大（未调整）、男性、噪声暴露以及吸烟超过5至15包年与新发听力损失相关；在年龄-性别调整模型中，与噪声暴露和吸烟包年的关联不再显著。一些与新发听力损失相关的因素在不同性别和种族群体中有所不同。作为一个常见的公共卫生问题，预防或管理听力损失的干预措施可能因人口统计学群体而异。
