The prevalence and factors associated with hearing impairment in the Korean adults: the 2010-2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (observational study).

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Hong, Jae W. Jeon, Ju H. Ku, Cheol R. Noh, Jung H. Yoo, Hyung J. Kim, Dong-Jun
Editor	Yang., Jingyun
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	AbstractThere are few studies that have used audiometric testing to gauge the demographic characteristics and associated risk factors for hearing loss at the national-level. Here, we investigated the weighted prevalence and associated factors of hearing impairment in 16,040 Korean adult population. Subjects completed audiometric test and laboratory examination as part of the data from The 2010–2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). In our respective study, the overall weighted (n = 33,762,584) prevalence of mild hearing impairment among the Korean adult population was 20.5% (95% clearance [CI], 19.6–21.6), whereas moderate-to-profound hearing impairment was 9.2% (95% CI, 8.6–9.9). The weighted prevalence of mild hearing impairment in younger adults (19–39 years’ old) was 4.4% (3.5–5.5), in middle-age adults (40–64 years), it was 21.1% (19.8–22.5), and in older adults (≥65 years’ old), it was 69.7% (67.8–71.6). Logistic regression analyses were performed for low/mid frequency or high-frequency mild hearing impairment with age, sex, tobacco use, heavy alcohol use, educational background, occupational noise exposure, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, total serum cholesterol, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73m2 as covariates. The analyses revealed independent correlations between increased age, tobacco use, education, hypertension, and eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2, and low/mid frequency and high frequency mild hearing impairment. High frequency mild hearing impairment was positively correlated with male sex, diabetes, and an increase in total serum cholesterol. Taken together, hearing impairment in Korea is highly prevalent with approximately one-fifth of Korean adult reporting mild hearing impairment. This study suggests that individuals with cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking, increased serum cholesterol, or decreased eGFR are at particular risk of developing hearing impairment. As such, these groups may benefit from hearing loss screening in addition to those groups typically considered to be of elevated risk including geriatrics, those of low socioeconomic status, and those with considerable occupational noise exposure.
ISSN	00257974
Journal	Medicine
Volume Number	94
PubMed Central reference number	PMC4602472
Issue Number	10
PubMed reference number	25761183
e-ISSN	15365964
DOI	10.1097/md.0000000000000611
Language	English
Publisher	Wolters Kluwer Health
Publisher Date	2015-03-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives License 4.0, which allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the author. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0 Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Medicine