Table 1.
Characteristics of participants in NHANES according to the auditory threshold by cycle (1999–2006)
| Participants, N (%)a | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 2001–2002 | 2003–2004 | 2005–2006 | |||||||||
| Characteristic | Normal hearing | Hearing loss | P valueb | Normal hearing | Hearing loss | P valueb | Normal hearing | Hearing loss | P valueb | Normal hearing | Hearing loss | P valueb |
| Overall | 1346 | 309 | 1551 | 310 | 1462 | 288 | 120 | 543 | ||||
| Age, N (%), | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | ||||||||
| 20–29 years | 378 | 5 | 424 | 12 | 405 | 11 | -c | -c | ||||
| 25.6 (20.2–31.1) | 1.9 (0.0–4.1) | 23.9 (20.8–27.1) | 3.6 (0.8–6.4) | 24.5 (22.3–26.7) | 5.1 (0.3–9.9) | |||||||
| 30–39 years | 330 | 18 | 366 | 26 | 353 | 15 | -c | -c | ||||
| 28.9 (24.0–33.8) | 8.2 (4.8–11.6) | 25.1 (20.9–29.3) | 9.6 (3.8–15.5) | 25.8 (23.0–28.6) | 5.8 (2.2–9.5) | |||||||
| 40–49 years | 267 | 38 | 363 | 45 | 309 | 39 | -c | -c | ||||
| 23.4 (19.8–27.0) | 16.3 (9.3–23.2) | 28.2 (24.5–31.8) | 19.8 (15.7–23.8) | 25.7 (22.9–28.6) | 17.7 (12.2–23.2) | |||||||
| 50–59 years | 187 | 74 | 231 | 87 | 204 | 75 | -c | -c | ||||
| 14.5 (11.7–17.2) | 28.7 (18.4–39.0) | 16.3 (13.4–19.2) | 35.7 (29.6–41.8) | 16.3 (13.5–19.1) | 36.7 (29.5–43.8) | |||||||
| 60–69 years | 184 | 174 | 167 | 140 | 191 | 148 | -c | -c | ||||
| 7.6 (6.0–9.3) | 45.0 (34.5–55.5) | 6.5 (5.1–7.8) | 31.3 (25.5–37.1) | 7.7 (6.3–9.1) | 34.7 (28.8–40.7) | |||||||
| 70–79 years | -c | -c | -c | -c | -c | -c | 101 | 301 | ||||
| 87.0 (80.3–93.6) | 62.9 (58.3–67.6) | |||||||||||
| 80 + years | -c | -c | -c | -c | -c | -c | 19 | 242 | ||||
| 13.0 (6.4–19.7) | 37.1 (32.4–41.7) | |||||||||||
| Sex, N (%) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | ||||||||
| Men | 580 | 204 | 655 | 209 | 651 | 173 | 47 | 294 | ||||
| 47.2 (43.4–51.0) | 67.1 (61.0–73.1) | 43.4 (40.0–46.8) | 68.8 (61.9–75.6) | 46.6 (43.5–49.8) | 60.0 (55.7–64.3) | 28.7 (22.6–34.7) | 43.6 (38.9–48.3) | |||||
| Women | 766 | 105 | 896 | 101 | 811 | 115 | 73 | 249 | ||||
| 52.8 (49.0–56.6) | 32.9 (26.9–39.0) | 56.6 (53.2–60.0) | 31.2 (24.4–38.1) | 53.4 (50.2–56.2) | 40.0 (35.7–44.3) | 71.3 (65.3–77.4) | 56.4 (51.7–61.1) | |||||
| Race, N (%) | 0.21 | 0.003 | < 0.001 | 0.36 | ||||||||
| Hispanic | 475 | 113 | 428 | 72 | 341 | 76 | 8 | 60 | ||||
| 17.9 (11.1–24.6) | 15.7 (5.6,25.9) | 13.8 (8.2–19.5) | 9.5 (4.6–14.4) | 12.7 (7.1–18.3) | 10.0 (4.9–15.1) | 2.6 (0.3–4.8) | 4.2 (2.6–5.7) | |||||
| Non-Hispanic white | 573 | 139 | 727 | 170 | 718 | 161 | 79 | 409 | ||||
| 66.9 (60.8–73.0) | 73.8 (62.7–84.8) | 68.7 (63.2–74.3) | 77.5 (70.2–84.8) | 69.5 (62.2–76.8) | 77.3 (69.6–85.1) | 85.2 (76.2–94.2) | 87.9 (83.8–92.1) | |||||
| Non-Hispanic black | 253 | 49 | 329 | 57 | 336 | 35 | 30 | 68 | ||||
| 11.3 (7.8–14.7) | 7.3 (2.6–12.0) | 11.9 (7.9–15.9) | 8.3 (3.6–13.0) | 12.7 (8.6–16.8) | 6.0 (2.8–9.2) | 10.3 (2.8–17.8) | 6.6 (3.7–9.6) | |||||
| Other | 45 | 8 | 67 | 11 | 67 | 16 | 3 | 6 | ||||
| 4.0 (1.9–6.1) | 3.2 (0.0–7.4) | 5.6 (3.9–7.2) | 4.7 (1.5–7.8) | 5.1 (3.5–6.7) | 6.7 (2.9–10.5) | 1.9 (0.0–4.5) | 1.3 (0.0–2.8) | |||||
| Educational level, N (%) | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | 0.02 | ||||||||
| Less than high school | 429 | 153 | 396 | 113 | 330 | 106 | 30 | 216 | ||||
| 20.0 (17.0–22.9) | 36.9 (30.2–43.6) | 15.8 (13.4–18.3) | 25.2 (18.3–32.1) | 14.2 (12.4–16.0) | 22.4 (13.7–31.1) | 18.8 (9.0–28.6) | 32.1 (26.4–37.9) | |||||
| High school | 302 | 69 | 342 | 65 | 336 | 86 | 34 | 156 | ||||
| 23.8 (20.7–27.0) | 28.5 (23.2–33.8) | 23.9 (21.1–26.8) | 25.9 (22.0–29.8) | 24.3 (21.0–27.6) | 35.4 (25.8–45.0) | 28.7 (17.3–40.0) | 32.8 (27.7–37.8) | |||||
| College or higher | 615 | 87 | 813 | 132 | 796 | 96 | 56 | 171 | ||||
| 56.2 (51.8–60.5) | 34.6 (28.4–40.8) | 60.2 (55.9–64.5) | 48.9 (43.5–54.4) | 61.5 (59.0–63.9) | 42.2 (33.7–50.7) | 52.5 (37.0–68.0) | 35.1 (26.8–43.4) | |||||
| Poverty/income ratio, N (%) | 0.206 | 0.255 | 0.060 | 0.002 | ||||||||
| Low | 327 | 82 | 387 | 68 | 383 | 94 | 20 | 143 | ||||
| 20.3 (14.3–26.2) | 18.8 (8.9–28.8) | 19.4 (17.7–21.1) | 16.0 (10.0–22.0) | 18.8 (14.7–23.0) | 23.5 (15.6–31.4) | 12.4 (6.9–17.9) | 20.8 (16.8–24.8) | |||||
| Middle | 419 | 100 | 516 | 117 | 497 | 105 | 53 | 255 | ||||
| 29.2 (24.0–34.5) | 32.9 (23.8–41.9) | 30.1 (27.4–32.8) | 33.5 (25.4–41.7) | 33.9 (28.4–39.5) | 37.7 (30.9–44.5) | 43.4 (33.5–53.3) | 50.0 (43.8–56.2) | |||||
| High | 411 | 72 | 553 | 99 | 503 | 71 | 41 | 104 | ||||
| 40.2 (33.5–46.9) | 32.5 (18.0–47.0) | 44.5 (40.6–48.4) | 42.0 (32.8–51.2) | 42.0 (36.4–47.6) | 32.6 (22.9–42.2) | 37.2 (24.5–49.8) | 21.4 (16.4–26.4) | |||||
| Missing | 189 | 54 | 95 | 26 | 79 | 18 | 6 | 41 | ||||
| 10.3 (6.5–14.1) | 15.8 (6.7–25.0) | 6.0 (3.5–8.6) | 8.5 (4.9–12.1) | 5.3 (3.0–7.5) | 6.3 (3.8–8.7) | 7.1 (0.6–13.5) | 7.8 (4.7–10.8) | |||||
| Non-occupational noise exposure, N (%) | 0.18 | 0.10 | 0.49 | < 0.001 | ||||||||
| Yes | 267 | 49 | 364 | 84 | 393 | 72 | 8 | 97 | ||||
| 23.1 (19.7–26.4) | 19.5 (14.9–24.2) | 26.6 (23.5–29.6) | 34.0 (24.2–43.9) | 29.5 (26.5–32.5) | 27.2 (20.6–33.8) | 5.0 (1.4–8.5) | 15.6 (11.6–19.6) | |||||
| No | 1079 | 260 | 1187 | 226 | 1069 | 216 | 112 | 446 | ||||
| 76.9 (73.6–80.3) | 80.5 (75.8–85.1) | 73.4 (70.4–76.5) | 66.0 (56.1–75.8) | 70.5 (67.5–73.5) | 72.8 (66.2–79.5) | 95.0 (91.5–98.6) | 84.4 (80.4–88.4) | |||||
| Occupational noise exposure, N (%) | 0.002 | 0.11 | 0.35 | 0.02 | ||||||||
| Yes | 140 | 39 | 173 | 46 | 151 | 32 | 32 | 229 | ||||
| 11.5 (8.2–14.8) | 16.7 (9.9–23.5) | 12.0 (9.2–14.8) | 18.8 (11.8–25.7) | 11.7 (9.0–14.5) | 14.4 (8.7–20.1) | 20.2 (10.7–29.7) | 37.2 (31.7–42.8) | |||||
| No | 135 | 20 | 172 | 38 | 174 | 25 | 88 | 314 | ||||
| 12.3 (9.9–14.6) | 5.6 (1.8–9.5) | 13.0 (11.1–15.0) | 14.2 (9.0–19.4) | 14.1 (11.7–16.6) | 11.5 (7.0–16.1) | 79.8 (70.3–89.3) | 62.8 (57.2–68.3) | |||||
| Missing | 1071 | 250 | 1206 | 226 | 1137 | 231 | -c | -c | ||||
| 76.2 (72.8–79.6) | 77.7 (70.9–84.4) | 75.0 (72.4–77.5) | 67.0 (58.1–76.0) | 74.2 (70.2–78.1) | 74.0 (68.3–79.8) | |||||||
aThe estimates of the percentage of participants were weighted
bP values for overall differences in prevalence by stratum
cNo participants were observed in the sample