ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Tinnitus is considered the third worst symptom affecting humans. The aim of this article is to assess complaints by workers with tinnitus exposed to environmental and occupational noise. METHODOLOGY: 495 workers went through an epidemiological survey at the Audiology Department of the Center for Studies on Workers' Health and Human Ecology, from 2003 to 2007. The workers underwent tonal and vocal audiometry, preceded by a clinical and occupational history questionnaire. Two-factor ANOVA and Tukey were the statistical tests used. All the analysis set statistical significance at α=5%. FINDINGS: There was a higher prevalence of occupational tinnitus (73.7%), a predominance of female domestic workers (65.4%) in cases of environmental exposure, and predominance of male construction workers (71.5%) for occupational exposure. There was a significant difference in workers with hearing loss, who showed a mean speech recognition index (SRI) of 85%, as compared to healthy workers with a mean SRI greater than 93.5%. Signs and symptoms, speech perception, and interference in sound localization with the type of noise exposure (environmental versus occupational) comparisons found no significant differences. CONCLUSION: Studied group's high prevalence of tinnitus, major difficulties in speech recognition with hearing loss and the presence of individuals with normal hearing with both types of exposure justify the importance of measures in health promotion, prevention, and hearing surveillance. The findings highlight the importance of valuing the patients' own perception as the first indication of tinnitus and hearing loss in order to help develop appropriate public policies within the Unified National Health System (SUS).
ABSTRACT
Os levantamentos epidemiológicos em saúde auditiva são de suma importância para o conhecimento das condições da audição da população brasileira. O objetivo deste artigo foi apresentar um modelo metodológico para a investigação de dados audiológicos, a partir do software EPI-Info for Windows de domínio público, gratuito, desenvolvido pelo Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC). Foi elaborada a base de dados EPI-Audio ? Programa de Epidemiologia Aplicada à Audiologia ? e para a demonstração da aplicabilidade do programa criado foram avaliados 881 indivíduos, entre julho de 2002 e dezembro de 2005, do Serviço de Audiologia do Centro de Estudos da Saúde do Trabalhador e Ecologia Humana (Cesteh)/Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública (Ensp)/Fiocruz/RJ, dos quais 563 trabalhadores foram elegíveis de inclusão, 217 (38,5%) apresentaram normalidade ao exame, 346 (61,5%) perda auditiva, sendo que 133 (38,4%) com alterações de orelha média (do tipo condutivo) e ou média/interna (mista), justificadas pela presença de gap e 213 (61,6%) com ausência, o que caracteriza a perda do tipo neurossensorial (orelha interna). Trata-se de uma ferramenta para sistematização e tratamento de dados que minimiza a margem de erros e permite a padronização e o controle dos dados audiológicos. Sugeriu-se o uso pela rede pública na construção de indicadores para o levantamento de dados epidemiológicos, auxílio no gerenciamento de informações e planejamento de políticas públicas.
The epidemiological surveys in hearing health are very important to improve knowledge about hearing conditions of the Brazilian population. This article presented a methodological model for research in hearing data, the Epidemiology Applied to Audiology Program (EPI - Audio), which was based on the EPI-Info software for Windows, which is of public domain, developed by the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC). In order to demonstrate the applicability of the program, 881 individuals were evaluated from July 2002 to December 2005, at the Department of Audiology, Cesteh / ENSP / Fiocruz / RJ, Brazil, from which 563 employees remained eligible, of whom 217 (38.5%) had normal hearing; 346 (61.5%) had hearing loss, of which 133 (38.4%) had changes on the middle ear (conductive) and/or middle/inner ear (mixed) alterations, justified by the presence of a gap, and 213 (61.6%) without a gap, which characterizes the sensorial-neural loss (inner ear). EPI-Audio is a tool for systematization and processing of data that minimizes errors, allows standardization and control of hearing data. We suggest its use by public health sector in the construction of indicators for epidemiological data analysis, aid for the information management and planning of public health policies.
