Obesity and risk of hearing loss: A prospective cohort study. Issue 3 (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hu, Huanhuan; Tomita, Kentaro; Kuwahara, Keisuke; Yamamoto, Makoto; Uehara, Akihiko; Kochi, Takeshi; Eguchi, Masafumi; Okazaki, Hiroko; Hori, Ai; Sasaki, Naoko; Ogasawara, Takayuki; Honda, Toru; Yamamoto, Shuichiro; Nakagawa, Tohru; Miyamoto, Toshiaki; Imai, Teppei; Nishihara, Akiko; Nagahama, Satsue; Murakami, Taizo; Shimizu, Makiko; Akter, Shamima; Kashino, Ikuko; Yamaguchi, Miwa; Kabe, Isamu; Mizoue, Tetsuya; Sone, Tomofumi; Dohi, Seitaro
• Is Part Of: Clinical nutrition. Volume 39:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 870
• Page End: 875
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Body mass index -- Obesity -- Metabolic phenotype -- Hearing loss; BMI body mass index -- BP blood pressure -- CI confidence interval -- CVD cardiovascular disease -- HR hazard ratio -- J-ECOH Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study -- WC waist circumference; Critically ill -- Nutrition -- Periodicals; Diet therapy -- Periodicals; Parenteral feeding -- Periodicals; Enteral feeding -- Periodicals; Enteral Nutrition -- Periodicals; Parenteral Nutrition -- Periodicals; Metabolism -- Periodicals; Diétothérapie -- Périodiques; Alimentation parentérale -- Périodiques; Alimentation entérale -- Périodiques; Nutrition -- Périodiques; Diet therapy; Enteral feeding; Nutrition; Parenteral feeding; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 615.854
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2019.03.020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-5614

Abstract

Summary: Background & aims: The existing yet limited prospective studies reported conflicting results about obesity and hearing loss. We investigated the prospective association between obesity and hearing loss in a large-scale Japanese working population, as well as the association between metabolic phenotype and hearing loss. Methods: The study included 48, 549 employees aged 20–64 years and free of hearing loss at baseline. Pure-tone audiometric testing was performed annually to identify hearing loss at 1 and 4 kHz. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to investigate the risk of hearing loss associated with body mass index (BMI) and metabolic phenotype (based on a BMI of ≥25.0/<25.0 kg/m 2 and presence/absence of ≥2 components of metabolic syndrome, except waist circumference). Baseline and updated information were obtained from annual health checkups. Results: With a median follow-up of 7 years, 1595 and 3625 individuals developed unilateral hearing loss at 1 and 4 kHz, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for hearing loss at 1 kHz were 1.21 (1.08, 1.36) and 1.66 (1.33, 2.08) for those with BMI 25.0–29.9 kg/m 2 and BMI ≥30.0 kg/m 2, respectively, compared to individuals with BMI <25.0 kg/m 2 . For hearing loss at 4 kHz, the corresponding HRs were 1.14 (1.05, 1.23) and 1.29 (1.09, 1.52). Compared with metabolically healthy non-obese individuals, the adjusted HRs for hearing loss at 1 kHz were 1.19 (1.03, 1.39), 1.27 (1.01, 1.61), and 1.48 (1.25, 1.76) for unhealthy non-obese, healthy obese, and unhealthy obese individuals, respectively. For hearing loss at 4 kHz, the corresponding HRs were 1.13 (1.04, 1.25), 1.21 (1.04, 1.41), and 1.26 (1.12, 1.41). Conclusions: Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of hearing loss, and metabolically unhealthy obesity may confer additional risk.