Table 1.
Baseline (2008) characteristics according to hearing impairment in 2014: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
| Overall | No hearing impairment | Hearing impairment | P-valuea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N=4879 | N=3001 | N=1878 | ||
| Age (years) | 64.1 (8.02) | 61.6 (6.65) | 68.2 (8.34) | <0.001 |
| Female n(%) | 2670 (54.7%) | 1731 (57.7%) | 939 (50.0%) | <0.001 |
| Education | <0.001 | |||
| Degree | 929 (19.0%) | 682 (22.7%) | 247 (13.2%) | |
| Intermediate | 2861 (58.6%) | 1790 (59.6%) | 1071 (57.0%) | |
| No qualifications | 1089 (22.3%) | 529 (17.6%) | 560 (29.8%) | |
| Living with partner | 3564 (73.0%) | 2290 (76.3%) | 1274 (67.8%) | <0.001 |
| Depressive symptoms (CES-D≥4) | 566 (11.6%) | 325 (10.8%) | 241 (12.8%) | 0.038 |
| Memory score (0–20) | 11.1 (3.23) | 11.7 (3.06) | 10.2 (3.26) | <0.001 |
| Drinks alcohol daily | 1029 (23.2%) | 653 (23.7%) | 376 (22.4%) | 0.32 |
| Smoking status | 0.054 | |||
| Never smoker | 1983 (40.6%) | 1259 (42.0%) | 724 (38.6%) | |
| Ex-smoker | 2307 (47.3%) | 1382 (46.1%) | 925 (49.3%) | |
| Current smoker | 589 (12.1%) | 360 (12.0%) | 229 (12.2%) | |
| Physical activity | <0.001 | |||
| Sedentary | 518 (10.6%) | 223 (7.43%) | 295 (15.7%) | |
| Moderately inactive | 639 (13.1%) | 370 (12.3%) | 269 (14.3%) | |
| Moderately active | 1504 (30.8%) | 926 (30.9%) | 578 (30.8%) | |
| Active | 1060 (21.7%) | 675 (22.5%) | 385 (20.5%) | |
| Very active | 1158 (23.7%) | 807 (26.9%) | 351 (18.7%) | |
| Self-reported hearing | <0.001 | |||
| Excellent | 994 (20.4%) | 798 (26.6%) | 196 (10.4%) | |
| Very good | 1406 (28.8%) | 1010 (33.7%) | 396 (21.1%) | |
| Good | 1633 (33.5%) | 943 (31.4%) | 690 (36.7%) | |
| Fair | 700 (14.3%) | 230 (7.66%) | 470 (25.0%) | |
| Poor | 146 (2.99%) | 20 (0.67%) | 126 (6.71%) | |
| High blood pressure | 2394 (49.1%) | 1325 (44.2%) | 1069 (56.9%) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes | 513 (10.5%) | 272 (9.06%) | 241 (12.8%) | <0.001 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 28.2 (5.02) | 28.0 (5.00) | 28.5 (5.03) | <0.001 |
| HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L) | 1.62 (0.43) | 1.64 (0.45) | 1.57 (0.41) | <0.001 |
| CRP (mg/L)b | 1.64 (1.60; 1.68) | 1.53 (1.48; 1.58) | 1.83 (1.76; 1.91) | <0.001c |
| Fibrinogen (g/L) | 3.15 (0.5) | 3.11 (0.49) | 3.21 (0.51) | <0.001 |
| WBCC (109 cell/L)b | 6.11 (6.06; 6.15) | 5.98 (5.93; 6.04) | 6.31 (6.23; 6.38) | <0.001c |
Values are mean (SD) or n (%) as appropriate
a
p-value of the chi-square test (categorical variables) or t-test (continuous variables) of the difference between the cases and non-cases of hearing impairment at the end of follow-up
b
geometric mean and 95% confidence interval
c
t-test performed on natural log-transformed values