High-frequency hearing loss, occupational noise exposure and hypertension: a cross-sectional study in male workers

Environmental Health

Research

Chiu-Shong Liu¹  Ta-Yuan Chang²  Kuei-Hung Huang²  Jim-Shoung Lai²  Ren-Yin Chen²  Bo-Ying Bao³ 

[1] Department of Family Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, 2 Yuh-Der Road, 40447, Taichung, Taiwan;Department of Occupational Safety and Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, 40402, Taichung, Taiwan;Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, 40402, Taichung, Taiwan;

关键词: Hearing Loss;    Noise Exposure;    Hearing Threshold;    Personal Protective Equipment;    Pure Tone Audiometry;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-069X-10-35

 received in 2011-01-20, accepted in 2011-04-25,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe association between occupational noise exposure and hypertension is inconsistent because of an exposure bias caused by outer-ear measurements of noise levels among workers. This study used hearing loss values (HLVs) measured at 4 kHz and 6 kHz in both ears as a biomarker to investigate the chronic effects of noise exposure on hypertension in 790 aircraft-manufacturing workers.MethodsParticipants were divided into a high hearing loss (HL) group (n = 214; average HLVs ≥ 30 decibel [dB] at 4 kHz or 6 kHz bilaterally; 83.1 ± 4.9 A-weighted decibel [dBA]), a median HL group (n = 302; 15 ≤ average HLVs < 30 dB at 4 kHz or 6 kHz bilaterally; 83.1 ± 4.4 dBA) and a low HL group (n = 274; average HLVs < 15 dB at 4 kHz or 6 kHz bilaterally; 82.2 ± 5.1 dBA) based on the results of pure tone audiometry. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to estimate the risk of hypertension between groups.ResultsThe prevalence rates of hypertension were significantly higher in the high HL (43.5%; p = 0.021) and median HL (42.1%; p = 0.029) groups than in the low HL group (33.2%). The high HL and median HL workers had 1.48-fold (95% confidence interval [95%CI] = 1.02-2.15; p = 0.040) and 1.46-fold (95%CI = 1.03-2.05; p = 0.031) higher risks of hypertension relative to the low HL workers. Employment duration was significantly and positively correlated with the risk of hypertension among workers with average HLVs ≥ 15 dB at 4 kHz (p < 0.001) and 6 kHz (p < 0.001) bilaterally.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that high-frequency hearing loss is a good biomarker of occupational noise exposure and that noise-induced hearing loss may be associated with the risk of hypertension.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Chang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011