title: Obesity is associated with sensorineural hearing loss in adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Childhood obesity, defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 95%, is a significant health problem associated with a variety of disorders, and in adults it has been found to be a risk factor for hearing loss. We investigated the hypothesis that obese children are at increased risk of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).
  
  
  METHODS
  A complex, multistage, stratified geographic area design for collecting representative data from noninstitutionalized U.S. population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Relevant cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005 to 2006, for 1,488 participants 12 to 19 years of age was examined. Subjects were classified as obese if their BMI ≥ 95 th percentile. SNHL was defined as average pure-tone level greater than 15 dB for 0.5, 1, and 2 kHz (low frequency) and 3, 4, 6, and 8 kHz (high frequency).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to normal weight participants (BMI 5%-85%), obesity in adolescents was associated with elevated pure tone hearing thresholds and greater prevalence of unilateral low-frequency SNHL (15.2 vs. 8.3%, P = 0.01). In multivariate analyses, obesity was associated with a 1.85 fold increase in the odds of unilateral low-frequency SNHL (95% CI: 1.10-3.13) after controlling for multiple hearing-related covariates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrate for the first time that obesity in childhood is associated with higher hearing thresholds across all frequencies and an almost 2-fold increase in the odds of unilateral low-frequency hearing loss. These results add to the growing literature on obesity-related health disturbances and also add to the urgency in instituting public health measures to reduce it.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Anil K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lalwani
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Ying-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weitzman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES); Obesity; sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL)