title: Childhood sensorineural hearing loss: effects of combined exposure with aging or noise exposure later in life.
abstract: The aim of the study was to examine childhood high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss (HF-SNHL) and the effects of combined exposure with aging or noise exposure on HF hearing thresholds in adulthood. Population-based cohort study of 30,003 adults (mean age 40 years) underwent an audiometry and completed a hearing questionnaire. At age 7-13 years, the same people had participated in a longitudinal school hearing investigation, in which 283 participants were diagnosed with HF-SNHL [PTA 3-8 kHz ≥ 25 dB HL (mean 45 dB HL), worse hearing ear], and 29,720 participants had normal hearing thresholds. The effect of childhood HF-SNHL on adult hearing threshold was significantly moderated by age. Age stratified analyses showed that the difference in HF hearing thresholds between adults with and without childhood HF-SNHL was 33 dB (95 % CI 31-34) in young adults (n = 173, aged 20-39 years) and 37 dB (95 % CI 34-39) in middle-aged adults (n = 110, aged 40-56 years). The combined exposure of childhood HF-SNHL and noise exposure showed a simple additive effect. It appears to be a super-additive effect of childhood-onset HF-SNHL and aging on adult hearing thresholds. An explanation might be that already damaged hair cells are more susceptible to age-related degeneration. To exclude possible birth cohort effects, the finding should be confirmed by a study with several audiometries in adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic and Health Behavior, Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway. lisa.aarhus@fhi.no.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aarhus
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic and Health Behavior, Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tambs
authors.affiliation: Department of Chronic diseases, Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nafstad
authors.affiliation: Namsos Hospital, Helse Nord-Trøndelag HF, Postboks 333, 7601, Levanger, Norway.
authors.forename: Eskil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bjørgan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic and Health Behavior, Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Engdahl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001299:Audiometry; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; Interaction; Noise exposure; Sensorineural hearing loss