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Kids Nowadays Hear Better Than We Did: Declining Prevalence of Hearing Loss in US Youth, 1966–2010
Author(s) -
Hoffman Howard J.,
Dobie Robert A.,
Losonczy Katalin G.,
Themann Christa L.,
Flamme Gregory A.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1002/lary.27419
Subject(s) - national health and nutrition examination survey , medicine , confidence interval , demography , odds ratio , logistic regression , ear infection , otitis , hearing loss , national health interview survey , cross sectional study , environmental health , audiology , population , surgery , pathology , sociology
Objectives/Hypothesis To investigate factors associated with hearing impairment (HI) in adolescent youths during the period 1966–2010. Study Design Cross‐sectional analyses of US sociodemographic, health, and audiometric data spanning 5 decades. Methods Subjects were youths aged 12 to 17 years who participated in the National Health Examination Survey (NHES Cycle 3, 1966–1970; n = 6,768) and youths aged 12 to 19 years in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III, 1988–1994; n = 3,057) and NHANES (2005–2010; n = 4,374). HI prevalence was defined by pure‐tone average (PTA) ≥ 20 dB HL for speech frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) and high frequencies (3, 4, and 6 kHz). Multivariable logistic models were used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results Overall speech‐frequency HI prevalence was 10.6% (95% CI: 9.7%‐11.6%) in NHES, 3.9% (95% CI: 2.8%‐5.5%) in NHANES III, and 4.5% (95% CI: 3.7%–5.4%) in NHANES 2005 to 2010. The corresponding high‐frequency HI prevalences were 32.8% (95% CI: 30.8%‐34.9%), 7.3% (95% CI: 5.9%‐9.0%), and 7.9% (95% CI: 6.8%‐9.2%). After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, overall high‐frequency HI was increased twofold for males and cigarette smoking. Other significant risk factors in NHANES 2005 to 2010 included very low birth weight, history of ear infections/otitis media, ear tubes, fair/poor general health, and firearms use. Conclusions HI declined considerably between 1966 to 1970 and 1988 to 1994, with no additional decline between 1988 to 1994 and 2005 to 2010. Otitis media history was a significant HI risk factor each period, whereas very low birth weight emerged as an important risk factor after survival chances improved. Reductions in smoking, job‐related noise, and firearms use may partially explain the reduction in high‐frequency HI. Loud music exposure may have increased, but does not account for HI differences. Level of Evidence NA Laryngoscope , 129:1922–1939, 2019