title: Hearing loss as a function of aging and diabetes mellitus: a cross sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although hearing loss may be caused by various factors, it is also a natural phenomenon associated with the aging process. This study was designed to assess the contributions of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension, both chronic diseases associated with aging, as well as aging itself, to hearing loss in health screening examinees.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 37,773 individuals who underwent health screening examinations from 2009 to 2012. The relationships between hearing threshold and subject age, hearing threshold at each frequency based on age group, the degree of hearing loss and the presence or absence of hypertension and DM were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of hearing loss increased with age, being 1.6%, 1.8%, 4.6%, 14.0%, 30.8%, and 49.2% in subjects in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies, respectively (p<0.05). Hearing value per frequency showed aging-based changes, in the order of 6000, 4000, 2000, 1000 and 500 Hz, indicating greater hearing losses at high frequencies. The degree of hearing loss ranged from mild to severe. Aging and DM were correlated with the prevalence of hearing loss (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant association between hearing loss and hypertension after adjusting for age and DM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of hearing loss increases with age and the presence of DM. Hearing loss was greatest at high frequencies. In all age groups, mild hearing loss was the most common form of hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: In-Hwan
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, St. Vincent's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, St. Vincent's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Choon
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Changwon, Korea.
authors.forename: MyungGu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Geun
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Yeo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult