title: [Current status and distribution of deafness in the elderly in several cities in China].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To survey the current status and distribution of deafness and its effect on daily life activities in the old population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight thousand two hundred and fifty-two elderly aged 60 years and above in the urban and rural areas of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an and Shenyang were investigated, using a clustered random sampling methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall crude prevalence of deafness in the elderly was found to be 33.7%, but the self-reported crude prevalence was low, only 47.1% when shown by medical examination. Crude prevalence rates were increasing with ageing, with 21.6%, 30.0%, 35.6%, 42.6%, 55.5% and 61.6% respectively (P < 0.01) in the age groups of 60-, 65-, 70-, 75-, 80-, 85- years old. Rate of deafness was highest in Beijing (58.5%), among the in-house workers (48.9%) and the lowest in scientists, teacher and health workers (28.5%). Logistic regression analysis showed that the crude prevalence was related to ageing, profession and area (P respective < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of deafness was high in the elderly which increased with ageing with different areas, professions and the level of education. It was lower when self-reported than shown by medical examination. Prevention and treatment of deafness in the elderly should be strengthened.
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing Hospital, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003638:Deafness / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D015995:Prevalence; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014504:Urban Health