HEARING-LOSS IN COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER PERSONS - NATIONAL PREVALENCE DATA AND IDENTIFICATION USING SIMPLE QUESTIONS

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of hearing loss among community- dwelling older persons according to clinical criteria and to develop a brief self-report screening instrument to detect hearing loss DESIGN: Survey SETTING: National probability sample of noninstitutionalized o lder persons PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2506 persons aged 55 to 74 who p articipated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey MA IN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hearing loss as defined by Ventry and Weinstein ( VW) criteria and by the High Frequency Pure-Tone Average (HFPTA) scale RESULTS: Hearing loss by VW criteria was present in 14.2% and by HFPT A criteria in 35.1% of those surveyed. The prevalence increased with a dvancing age and was higher among men and those with less education. A logistic regression model identified six independent factors for hear ing loss by VW criteria: age greater than or equal to 70 years (adjust ed odds-ratio (AOR) 2.7, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.6, 4.4), m ale gender (AOR 3.0, 95% CI 1.9, 4.8), less than or equal to 12th grad e education (AOR 3.8, 95% CI 1.8, 7.7), having seen a doctor for deafn ess or hearing loss (AOR 8.9, 95% CI 5.3, 14.9), unable to hear a whis per across a room (AOR 3.2, 95% CI 2.0, 5.1), and unable to hear a nor mal voice across a room (AOR 6.2, 95% CI 2.6, 14.9). A clinical scale based on the logistic model had 80% sensitivity and 80% specificity in predicting hearing loss using VW criteria and 59% sensitivity and 88% specificity in predicting hearing loss using HFPTA criteria. CONCLUSI ONS: Hearing loss, as defined by two clinical criteria, is common and can be screened for accurately using simple questions that assess soci odemographic and hearing-related characteristics.