title: Prevalence of age-related hearing loss, including sex differences, in older adults in a large cohort study.
abstract: To obtain actual status of age-related hearing loss in a general unscreened population of older Dutch adults and to investigate whether the prevalence or degree has changed over time.
  
  
  
  To investigate the prevalence and degree of hearing loss, we conducted a large prospective cohort study of older adults between February 2011 and July 2015.
  
  
  
  Pure-tone air- and bone-conduction thresholds were measured for 4,743 participants. Results were compared to previous cohort studies.
  
  
  
  As expected, hearing loss increased with age. We found a correlation of R2= 0.317 for men and R2= 0.354 for women (right ears). A prevalence of hearing loss greater than 35 dB hearing level the average of 0.5/1/2/4 kHz in the better ear, was found in 33% of the male and almost 29% of the female participants aged 65 years and older. Compared with previous studies, men had less hearing loss at the frequencies of 2 kHz and above. Hearing thresholds in women were significantly higher at 4 and 8 kHz. The difference in hearing loss between men and women is significantly less than in earlier studies.
  
  
  
  Our study confirms that hearing loss is highly prevalent in the general unscreened population of older adults. However, the difference in hearing between sexes was considerably less than previously reported. This is probably due to changing lifestyle and environmental circumstances, LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 2b Laryngoscope, 127:725-730, 2017.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nienke C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Homans
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: R Mick
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Metselaar
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: J Gertjan
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Dingemanse
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marc P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: van der Schroeff
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Brocaar
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marjan H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wieringa
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rob J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Baatenburg de Jong
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.|Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goedegebure
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000379:methods*; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011304:Presbycusis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution
keywords: Hearing loss; aging