Table 4.
OR for hearing loss based on 3 PTA methods by lead and cadmium quintile
| Variables | n | Hearing lossa |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| low-frequency methodb | speech frequency methodc | high-frequency methodd | ||
| Blood lead | ||||
| Per doubling of lead | 0.91 (0.52–1.61) | 1.21 (0.72–2.04) | 1.88 (1.11–3.17) | |
| Lead quintile, µg/dL | ||||
| Q1 (0.515–1.780) | 478 | Ref. | Ref. | Ref. |
| Q2 (1.780–2.248) | 477 | 0.84 (0.47–1.52) | 1.33 (0.79–2.24) | 1.07 (0.68–1.68) |
| Q3 (2.248–2.723) | 477 | 0.72 (0.41–1.28) | 1.49 (0.88–2.51) | 1.16 (0.75–1.82) |
| Q4 (2.723–3.396) | 478 | 1.00 (0.58–1.72) | 1.29 (0.77–2.16) | 1.51 (0.97–2.36) |
| Q5 (3.396–26.507) | 477 | 0.86 (0.50–1.48) | 1.27 (0.77–2.11) | 1.44 (0.90–2.31) |
| p for trend | 0.994 | 0.673 | 0.035 | |
| Blood cadmium | ||||
| Per doubling of cadmium | 0.83 (0.40–1.72) | 1.24 (0.66–2.34) | 1.89 (1.02–3.50) | |
| Cadmium quintile, µg/dL | ||||
| Q1 (0.098–0.654) | 480 | Ref. | Ref. | Ref. |
| Q2 (0.654–0.906) | 475 | 0.60 (0.31–1.14) | 1.00 (0.56–1.78) | 1.22 (0.80–1.86) |
| Q3 (0.906–1.187) | 477 | 0.72 (0.39–1.33) | 1.09 (0.63–1.88) | 1.41 (0.90–2.21) |
| Q4 (1.187–1.599) | 479 | 0.68 (0.37–1.27) | 0.89 (0.51–1.55) | 1.22 (0.76–1.95) |
| Q5 (1.599–5.170) | 476 | 0.71 (0.37–1.38) | 1.29 (0.72–2.32) | 1.72 (1.05–2.83) |
| p for trend | 0.539 | 0.502 | 0.069 | |
Values in parentheses are 95% CI. Models were adjusted for age, sex, monthly income, education level, smoking status, BMI, occupational noise, loud noise, firearm noise, hypertension, and diabetes.
a
Defined as a PTA >25 dB.
b
PTA at 0.5, 1, and 2 kHz.
c
PTA at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz.
d
PTA at 3, 4, and 6 kHz.