Prevalence of hearing loss among community-dwelling older people in China in 2020 / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the prevalence of hearing loss among community-dwelling older people aged 60 and over, and also to compare the discrepancies between self-reported hearing loss and hearing loss diagnosed via audiometry.Methods:Subjects were from the Prevention and Intervention on Neurodegenerative Disease for the Elderly in China(PINDEC)project.By using the stratified multi-stage cluster random sampling method, a total of 10 347 residents aged 60 years and over were selected from 12 counties and districts in Liaoning, Henan and Guangdong Provinces and hearing function assessment was performed in 2020 through otoscopy, pure-tone audiometry and questionnaires.Hearing loss(HL)was defined by the World Health Organization criteria.Self-reported hearing loss was assessed by asking participants whether they had difficulty in hearing.The χ2 and Cochran-Armitage trend tests were used to analyze the differences in HL between different groups.The multivariate Logistic regression model was applied to assess factors influencing HL. Results:In 2020, the prevalence of HL among the elderly aged 60 and older in Liaoning, Henan and Guangdong Provinces was 69.8%(95% CI 68.9%-70.7%). The prevalence of HL in men was higher than that in women, and increased gradually with age.The prevalence of mild HL was 47.2%, and the prevalence of moderate, severe and profound HL were 18.0%, 3.6% and 0.9%, respectively.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that factors positively correlated with HL were aging, male sex, living in rural areas and working in manual labor.Education level was negatively correlated with HL.Of the 7223 participants who were found to have HL, 5106(70.7%)self-reported having good hearing.Those of a younger age, with a higher educational achievement, having a spouse, or with mild HL were more likely to report having good hearing(all P<0.05). Conclusions:Hearing loss is quite prevalent among community-dwelling older people, and there is a large discrepancy in prevalence between self-reported HL and HL diagnosed via audiometry.Screening and comprehensive intervention for hearing loss for the elderly should be strengthened.