Cardiovascular risk factors and hearing loss: The HUNT study

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the present paper was to examine the association between prospectively and cross-sectionally assessed cardiovascular risk factors and hearing loss. Design: Hearing was assessed by pure-tone average thresholds at low (0.25–0.5 kHz), middle (1–2 kHz), and high (3–8 kHz) frequencies. Self-reported or measured cardiovascular risk factors were assessed both 11 years before and simultaneously with the audiometric assessment. Cardiovascular risk factors were smoking, alcohol use, physical inactivity, waist circumference, body mass index, resting heart rate, blood pressure, triglycerides, total serum cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and diabetes. Study sample: A population-based cohort of 31 547 subjects. Results: After adjustment for age, sex, level of education, income, recurrent ear infections, and noise exposure, risk factors associated with poorer hearing sensitivity were smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity, resting heart rate, and waist circumference. Smoking was only associated with hearing loss at high frequencies. The effects were very small, in combination explaining only 0.2–0.4% of the variance in addition to the component explained by age and the other cofactors. Conclusion: This cohort study indicates that, although many cardiovascular risk factors are associated with hearing loss, the effects are small and of doubtful clinical relevance.

Key Words:

• Epidemiology
• hearing loss
• smoking
• alcohol
• physical activity
• body mass index
• blood pressure
• blood lipids
• diabetes

Acknowledgements

The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (The HUNT Study) is a collaboration between HUNT Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Verdal, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and Nord-Trøndelag County Council. The NT Hearing Loss Study, which is a part of HUNT, was funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), NIH, research contract No. N01 DC62104. The NT County Health Officer and the Community Health Officers in Levanger and other municipalities provided organizational and other practical support. We also thank the NTHLS team for their diligence.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.