Studies on an isolated West Indies population. III. Epidemiologic study of sensorineural hearing loss.
An epidemiologic study of hearing loss was undertaken on a small Caribbean island and revealed a high frequency of abnormal audiograms among the population of French origin. Since there is no clear-cut discrimination between hypoacusis and normal hearing, but rather a continuous spectrum, the degree of hearing loss was quantified by an audiometric index, using the results of audiograms performed on 70% of the inhabitants. No environmental factors could be identified, although the effect of such factors is highly suggested by several observations of deafness aggravated by, or appearing after, a small dose of ototoxic antibiotics, and also by a strong residual age effect after correction for physiological presbyacusis. Hearing loss was found to be sparsed all over the island. Familial aggregation was noticed for several severe cases.
Bois
E
E
Unité de Recherches de Génétique Epidémiologique, INSERM, Paris, France.
Bonaïti
C
C
Lallemant
M
M
Moatti
L
L
Feingold
N
N
Mayer
F M
FM
Feingold
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D003241:Consanguinity; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree; D014900:West Indies