Characteristics of hearing loss in elderly outpatients over 60 years of age: an annual cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background

The prevention and treatment of presbycusis becomes a serious health challenge and socio-economic problem.

Objectives

We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the audiometry results of all elderly patients who visited our department throughout the year of 2018.

Material and methods

A total of 5520 people aged 60 and over were included and divided into three groups: young-old group (60–74 years old), old-old group (75–89 years old), and longevous group (over 90 years old). Pure-tone audiometry results of all patients were analyzed.

Results

Among the 5520 patients, there were 4445 cases in the young-old group, 1029 cases in the old-old group, and 46 cases in the longevous group, accounting for 80.53, 18.64, and 0.83%, respectively. In the young-old group, normal hearing and mild-moderate hearing loss were the most common, while moderate and severe hearing loss were more common among the old-old group and the longevous group. The hearing curve showed typical age-related hearing loss with a drop at high frequencies.

Conclusions

With an increase in age, patients tend to suffer from more serious hearing disorders. Presbycusis was associated with specific frequency and age characteristics. Understanding these characteristics is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of age-related hearing loss.

Chinese abstract

背景：老年性耳聋的防治已经成为一种严峻的健康和社会经济问题。

目的：我们对所有在整个 2018 年期间来我科看病的老年患者的听力测量结果进行了横断面分析。

材料与方法：共纳入60岁及以上的老年患者5520人, 分为三组：低龄老年组（60-74岁）、高龄老年组（75-89岁）、长寿组（90 岁以上）。分析所有患者的纯音测听结果。

结果：5520例患者中, 低龄老年组4445例, 高龄老年组1029例, 长寿组46例, 分别占80.53%、18.64%和0.83%。在低龄老年组中, 正常听力和轻度-中度听力损失最常见, 而在高龄老年组和长寿组中, 中度和重度听力损失更为常见。听力曲线显示典型的与年龄相关的听力损失在高频率下降。

结论：随着年龄的增长, 患者往往患有更严重的听力障碍。老年性耳聋与特定的频率和年龄特征相关。了解这些特征对于老年性听力损失的防治具有重要意义。

Keywords:

• Age-related hearing loss
• presbycusis
• elderly
• hearing threshold

Ethical approval

All examinations and procedures were conducted according to the guidelines of the Ethics Committee of the PLA General Hospital and approved by the Clinical Ethics Committee of the Institute of clinical medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from National Key research and development program of China (2020YFC2005200); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81670940, 81770991).