title: Does COPD have a clinically relevant impact on hearing loss? A retrospective matched cohort study with selection of patients diagnosed with COPD.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a multisystemic disease has a measurable and biologically explainable impact on the auditory function detectable in the laboratory. This study tries to clarify if COPD is also a significant and clinically relevant risk factor for hearing impairment detectable in the general practice setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective matched cohort study with selection of patients diagnosed with COPD.
  
  
  METHODS
  12 general practices in Lower Austria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive patients >35 years with a diagnosis of COPD who consulted 1 of 12 single-handed GPs in 2009 and 2010 were asked to participate. Those who agreed were individually 1:1 matched with controls according to age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease and chronic heart failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sensorineural hearing impairment as assessed by pure tone audiometry, answers of three questions concerning a self-perceived hearing problem, application of the whispered voice test and the score of the Hearing Inventory for the Elderly, Screening Version (HHIE-S).
  
  
  RESULTS
  194 patients (97 pairs of 194 cases and controls) with a mean age of 65.5 (SD 10.2) were tested. Univariate conditional logistic regression resulted in significant differences in the mean bone conduction hearing loss and in the total score of HHIE-S, in the multiple conditional regression model, only smoking (p<0.0001) remained significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study do not support the hypothesis that there is an association between COPD and hearing impairment which, if found, would have allowed better management of patients with COPD.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, Centre for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Gustav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kamenski
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine, Surgery for adults Velky Biel, Velky Biel, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bendova
authors.affiliation: Karl Landsteiner Institute for Systematics in General Medicine, Angern, Austria.
authors.forename: Waltraud
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.affiliation: General Practice and Family Medicine, Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sönnichsen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Spiegel
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zehetmayer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001317:Austria; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000150:complications*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013147:Spirometry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; General Practice; Hearing impairment