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. 2014 Dec 30;9(12):e116161.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116161. eCollection 2014.

Hearing loss as a function of aging and diabetes mellitus: a cross sectional study

In-Hwan Oh  1 , Jong Hoon Lee  2 , Dong Choon Park  3 , MyungGu Kim  4 , Ji Hyun Chung  5 , Sang Hoon Kim  5 , Seung Geun Yeo  5
Affiliations

Hearing loss as a function of aging and diabetes mellitus: a cross sectional study

In-Hwan Oh et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Although hearing loss may be caused by various factors, it is also a natural phenomenon associated with the aging process. This study was designed to assess the contributions of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension, both chronic diseases associated with aging, as well as aging itself, to hearing loss in health screening examinees.

Methods: This study included 37,773 individuals who underwent health screening examinations from 2009 to 2012. The relationships between hearing threshold and subject age, hearing threshold at each frequency based on age group, the degree of hearing loss and the presence or absence of hypertension and DM were evaluated.

Results: The prevalence of hearing loss increased with age, being 1.6%, 1.8%, 4.6%, 14.0%, 30.8%, and 49.2% in subjects in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies, respectively (p<0.05). Hearing value per frequency showed aging-based changes, in the order of 6000, 4000, 2000, 1000 and 500 Hz, indicating greater hearing losses at high frequencies. The degree of hearing loss ranged from mild to severe. Aging and DM were correlated with the prevalence of hearing loss (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant association between hearing loss and hypertension after adjusting for age and DM.

Conclusions: The prevalence of hearing loss increases with age and the presence of DM. Hearing loss was greatest at high frequencies. In all age groups, mild hearing loss was the most common form of hearing loss.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Prevalence of hearing loss by age group.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Prevalence of hearing loss according to the severity of hearing loss by age group in subjects without DM.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Prevalence of hearing loss according to the severity of hearing loss by age group in patients with DM.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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