title: Hearing in older adults with exfoliation syndrome/exfoliation glaucoma or primary open-angle glaucoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether adults, aged 66-96 years, with exfoliation syndrome (XFS)/exfoliation glaucoma (XFG), or primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) have poorer hearing than controls of similar age.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case (XFS/XFG and POAG) and control status was diagnosed in the Reykjavik Glaucoma Studies (RGS) using slit-lamp examination, visual field testing and optic disc photographs; the RGS data were merged with the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study that collected hearing data using air-conduction, pure-tone thresholds obtained at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 kHz categorized by better ear and worse ear, based on pure-tone averages (PTAs) calculated separately for low and middle frequencies (PTA512 - mean of thresholds at 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz) and high frequencies (PTA3468 - mean of thresholds at 3, 4, 6 and 8 kHz). Multivariable linear regression was used to test for differences in PTAs between cases and controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age for 158 XFS/XFG cases (30.4% male) was 77.4 years, 95 POAG cases (35.8% male) was 77.9 years, and 123 controls (46.3% male) was 76.8 years. Using multivariable linear regression analysis, there were no consistent, statistically significant differences in PTAs between the two case groups and controls in either the low- or high-frequency range, even when stratified by age group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among the older individuals examined in this study hearing loss is highly prevalent and strongly associated with male gender and increasing age. As we did not find consistent statistically significant difference in hearing between cases and controls the diagnosis of XFS/XFG or POAG does not as such routinely call for audiological evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Geir
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tryggvason
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Fridbert
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jonasson
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Mary Frances
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Cotch
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Statistics Program, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Chuan-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Statistics Program, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Howard J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: Hearing Loss Prevention Team, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Christa L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Themann
authors.affiliation: Icelandic Heart Association, Kopavogur, Iceland.
authors.forename: Gudny
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eiriksdottir
authors.affiliation: Icelandic Heart Association, Kopavogur, Iceland.
authors.forename: Jóhanna Eyrún
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Sverrisdottir
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Population Sciences, National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Tamara B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Population Sciences, National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Lenore J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Launer
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.|Icelandic Heart Association, Kopavogur, Iceland.
authors.forename: Vilmundur
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gudnason
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.|Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Petersen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D017889:Exfoliation Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D008297:Male; D058609:Visual Field Tests; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology
keywords: adjustment for age and sex; exfoliation glaucoma; hearing; primary open-angle glaucoma