Hearing loss prevalence in the United States.

摘要

The prevalence of hearing loss in the US population has been estimated from self-reported data or in age-restricted cohorts. These estimates may not accurately reflect the true burden of hearing loss in the United States. We estimated the overall prevalence of audiometric hearing loss among all individuals (age >=12 years) in the United States using data from a nationally representative data set and with a definition of hearing loss recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Methods. We analyzed data from the 2001 through 2008 cycles of the National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys (NHANES), an ongoing epidemiological survey designed to assess the health and functional status of the civilian, noninstitutionalized US population. Air conduction pure-tone audiometry was administered to all participants aged 12 to 19 years from 2005 through 2008 (n=3143), a half sample of all participants aged 20 to 69 years from 2001 through 2004 (n=3630), and all participants 70 years and older from 2005 through 2006 (n= 717). Audiometry was performed in a sound-attenuating booth according to established NHANES protocols. A speech-frequency pure-tone average (average of hearing thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) of 25 dB HL (hearing level) or greater in both ears was defined as hearing loss per WHO criteria, and this is the level at which hearing loss begins to impair communication in daily life. Hearing loss prevalence was estimated by age decade, sex, and the 3 largest categories of race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white [white], non-Hispanic black [black], and Mexican American or other Hispanic [Hispanic]). There were insufficient individuals from other racial/ethnic groups to derive reliable age-stratified estimates. However, individuals from all racial and ethnic categories were included in estimates of overall prevalence. US population counts were estimated using the midpoint of population totals in each cycle and averaged across combined cycles when appropria...