Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics at baseline by hearing loss status.
| Characteristics |
Not standardized for age-sex strata |
Standardized for age-sex strata |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hearing loss | No hearing loss | Hearing loss | No hearing loss | |
| N | 152,766 | 4,571,880 | ||
| Age, ya | 52.4 [17.5] | 36.5 [17.1] | – | – |
| Male | 76,453 (50.0) | 2,332,302 (51.0) | – | – |
| Rural residence | 15,041 (10.1) | 413,313 (10.3) | 13,554 (9.3) | 414,005 (10.4) |
| Material deprivationa | 3.1 [1.4] | 3.2 [1.4] | 3.1 [1.5] | 3.2 [1.4] |
| Morbidities | ||||
| Obesity | 18,333 (13.2) | 338,895 (11.6) | 16,383 (12.2) | 340,470 (11.6) |
| Hypertension | 40,959 (26.8) | 408,808 (8.9) | 32,704 (21.7) | 418,317 (9.2) |
| Chronic pain | 30,143 (19.7) | 337,071 (7.4) | 24,922 (16.5) | 342,275 (7.5) |
| Depression | 16,461 (10.8) | 208,424 (4.6) | 14,052 (9.3) | 210,523 (4.6) |
| Diabetes | 11,663 (7.6) | 132,681 (2.9) | 9669 (6.4) | 135,233 (3.0) |
| Chronic pulmonary | 14,686 (9.6) | 138,431 (3.0) | 11,647 (7.7) | 141,100 (3.1) |
| Hypothyroid | 10,997 (7.2) | 113,098 (2.5) | 8762 (5.8) | 115,342 (2.5) |
| Osteoporosis | 10,604 (6.9) | 94,511 (2.1) | 8241 (5.5) | 96,571 (2.1) |
| Gout | 7142 (4.7) | 74,502 (1.6) | 5721 (3.8) | 76,221 (1.7) |
| Stroke/TIA | 7165 (4.7) | 59,398 (1.3) | 5650 (3.7) | 60,635 (1.3) |
| Fragility fracture | 3956 (2.6) | 49,223 (1.1) | 3168 (2.1) | 49,972 (1.1) |
| Cancer | 4285 (2.8) | 41,989 (0.9) | 3452 (2.3) | 42,858 (0.9) |
| Chronic heart failure | 4746 (3.1) | 46,889 (1.0) | 3871 (2.6) | 47,685 (1.0) |
| Alcohol misuse | 2396 (1.6) | 43,152 (0.9) | 2072 (1.4) | 43,573 (1.0) |
| Asthma | 3801 (2.5) | 42,472 (0.9) | 3052 (2.0) | 43,061 (0.9) |
| Atrial fibrillation | 4108 (2.7) | 35,914 (0.8) | 3261 (2.2) | 36,656 (0.8) |
| Coronary artery d. | 4343 (2.8) | 37,322 (0.8) | 3350 (2.2) | 38,337 (0.8) |
| Irritable bowel s. | 3040 (2.0) | 26,157 (0.6) | 2374 (1.6) | 26,625 (0.6) |
| Epilepsy | 1801 (1.2) | 22,860 (0.5) | 1533 (1.0) | 23,113 (0.5) |
| Rheumatic d. | 2746 (1.8) | 23,570 (0.5) | 2109 (1.4) | 24,094 (0.5) |
| Dementia | 1703 (1.1) | 19,662 (0.4) | 1484 (1.0) | 19,829 (0.4) |
| Schizophrenia | 1150 (0.8) | 18,571 (0.4) | 973 (0.6) | 18,786 (0.4) |
| Severe constipation | 1118 (0.7) | 10,310 (0.2) | 917 (0.6) | 10,456 (0.2) |
| Inflammatory bowel d. | 1200 (0.8) | 15,612 (0.3) | 987 (0.7) | 15,828 (0.3) |
| Multiple sclerosis | 758 (0.5) | 10,969 (0.2) | 606 (0.4) | 11,154 (0.2) |
| Peripheral arterial d. | 1026 (0.7) | 9240 (0.2) | 800 (0.5) | 9412 (0.2) |
| Psoriasis | 649 (0.4) | 7737 (0.2) | 523 (0.3) | 7886 (0.2) |
| Parkinson's d. | 732 (0.5) | 7812 (0.2) | 583 (0.4) | 7936 (0.2) |
| Severe CKD | 360 (0.2) | 4008 (0.1) | 316 (0.2) | 4043 (0.1) |
| Peptic ulcer d. | 341 (0.2) | 3443 (0.1) | 277 (0.2) | 3493 (0.1) |
| Liver d. | 182 (0.1) | 2995 (0.1) | 163 (0.1) | 3016 (0.1) |
| Complexity markers | ||||
| Number of morbiditiesa | 1.3 [1.6] | 0.4 [1.0] | 1.0 [1.5] | 0.5 [1.0] |
| Mental health condition | 18,486 (11.8) | 247,447 (5.3) | 15,800 (10.4) | 249,964 (5.4) |
| Number of prescriptionsa | 0.3 [3.4] | 1.0 [6.0] | 1.0 [6.1] | 1.0 [5.9] |
| Types of physiciansa | 2.3 [1.7] | 1.4 [1.3] | 2.3 [1.7] | 1.4 [1.3] |
| Number of physiciansa | 4.0 [3.7] | 2.5 [3.0] | 4.1 [3.7] | 2.5 [3.0] |
CKD, Chronic kidney disease; d, Disease; s, Syndrome; SD, Standard deviation; TIA, Transient ischemic attack.
N (%) or mean [SD] as appropriate. All characteristics were obtained at baseline. Participants in the group with hearing loss developed hearing loss at some point during follow-up. The age-sex strata are created using 5-year intervals of age. The differences between the groups were tested by regressing hearing loss onto each covariate in term, not weighted or weighted by age-sex strata, using logistic regression. All differences were significant at p < 0.001 except for the following: rural residence had a p = 0.007 for percentages that were not standardized for age-sex strata, and number of prescriptions had a p = 0.85 for means that were standardized for age-sex strata.
Mean [SD].