Table 1. Summary Unweighted Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Analytic Sample From NHANES 2001-2012 Cycles.
| Characteristic | Audiometric Hearing, No. (%)a | P Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal (n = 1562 [59.8%])b | Mild Loss (n = 667 [25.5%])b | Moderate or Greater Loss (n = 384 [14.7%])b | ||
| Female | 892 (57.1) | 287 (43.0) | 115 (29.9) | <.001 |
| Age, y | ||||
| 60-69 | 1060 (67.9) | 243 (36.4) | 89 (23.2) | <.001 |
| 70-79 | 460 (29.4) | 357 (53.5) | 216 (56.3) | |
| 80+ | 42 (2.7) | 67 (10.0) | 79 (20.6) | |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||
| Hispanic | 326 (20.9) | 116 (17.4) | 64 (16.7) | <.001 |
| Non-Hispanic | ||||
| Black | 446 (28.6) | 110 (16.5) | 42 (10.9) | |
| White | 693 (44.4) | 407 (61.0) | 267 (69.5) | |
| Other | 97 (6.2) | 34 (5.1) | 11 (2.9) | |
| Education | ||||
| <High school | 450 (28.8) | 248 (37.2) | 157 (40.9) | <.001 |
| High school | 351 (22.5) | 197 (29.5) | 83 (21.6) | |
| >High school | 761 (48.7) | 222 (33.3) | 143 (37.2) | |
| Unknown | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | |
| Poverty index ratioc | ||||
| <1.25 | 329 (21.1) | 185 (27.7) | 107 (27.9) | <.001 |
| 1.25-3.49 | 622 (39.8) | 282 (42.3) | 172 (44.8) | |
| ≥3.50 | 487 (31.2) | 149 (22.3) | 75 (19.5) | |
| Missing | 124 (7.9) | 51 (7.6) | 30 (7.8) | |
Abbreviations: HL, hearing level; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.
Audiometric hearing defined by a 4-frequency (0.5-, 1.0-, 2.0-, and 4.0-kHz) better-ear pure-tone average threshold as normal hearing (≤25 dB HL), mild hearing loss (>25 dB but ≤40 dB HL), or moderate or greater hearing loss (>40 dB HL).
Poverty index ratio is a calculated value in the NHANES data set that is the ratio of family income to poverty; NHANES uses poverty guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services to calculate the poverty index ratio such that family income is divided by the poverty guidelines according to family size, year, and state. Values greater than 5 were coded in NHANES as 5 owing to disclosure concerns, and as such, poverty index ratio ranges from 0 to 5. Values less than 1 indicate that the participant family income was below the poverty level, and values greater than 1 indicate that the participant family income is above the poverty level.