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

Autor: Ta-Yuan Chang1 tychang@mail.cmu.edu.tw, Chiu-Shong Liu2, Kuei-Hung Huang1, Ren-Yin Chen1, Jim-Shoung Lai1, Bo-Ying Bao3, Chang, Ta-Yuan4 (AUTHOR), Liu, Chiu-Shong (AUTHOR), Huang, Kuei-Hung (AUTHOR), Chen, Ren-Yin (AUTHOR), Lai, Jim-Shoung (AUTHOR), Bao, Bo-Ying (AUTHOR)
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Zdroj: Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source. 2011, Vol. 10 Issue 1, p35-42. 8p.
Abstrakt: Background: The 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.Methods: Participants 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.Results: The 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.Conclusions: Our 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: GreenFILE