Hearing loss and risk of early retirement. The HUNT study

Abstract

Background: We explore the possible consequences of measured hearing impairment (HI) and perceived hearing difficulties for early retirement in a large population-based study. Furthermore, we study whether having a part-time position was associated with measured HI and perceived hearing difficulties in the same population. Methods: This study included 25 740 persons from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) aged 20–54 years at baseline in HUNT1 (1984–1986) who also participated in the follow up, HUNT2, including a hearing examination 11 years later. Logistic regression analysis was conducted for men and women separately and in two age strata. Effects of low-, middle- and high-frequency hearing levels were explored, adjusting for each other. Further adjustment was made for socio-economic class and general health in HUNT1. Results: The risk of early retirement increased with degree of loss of low-frequency hearing in young and middle-aged men and middle-aged women. The middle-aged men and women experiencing hearing disability had an increased risk of early retirement. Degree of hearing level was not associated with part-time work, but in middle-aged men, awareness of having a hearing loss was associated with part-time employment. Conclusions: Degree of low-frequency hearing loss was associated with early retirement but not with part-time work. Perceived hearing disability increased the risk of early retirement in middle-aged men and women and also the risk of part-time work in middle-aged men.

An Investigation of the Impact of Tinnitus Perception on the Quality of Life

“…We believed that retirement could have an effect on tinnitus severity as tinnitus patients could find tinnitus is very disruptive when they spend more time in silence at home. The association between hearing impairments and retirement was identified, which found that the incidence of retirement is significantly higher in hearing impairment population comparing to normal hearers [19,20].…”

Reduction in high-frequency hearing loss following technical modifications to microvascular decompression for hemifacial spasm

“…5,10 Although the prior report implicated noise from the high-speed surgical drill as the cause of HFHL following MVD, we conducted this study to examine the incidence of HFHL, with an emphasis on retractorless MVD for treatment of HFS.…”

Älter, hörbeeinträchtigt und…. erwerbstätig!

“…Helvik et al 2012;Hogan et al 2009;Friberg et al 2012;Nachtegaal et al 2012;Pierre et al 2012) daraufhin, dass bei Menschen mit einer Hörbeeinträchtigungen eine niedrigere Erwerbsbeteiligung, höhere Arbeitslosenquoten und höhere Frühberentungsquoten festzustellen sind als bei Menschen ohne Hörbeeinträchtigungen. Besonders davon betroffen zeigen sich dabei die höheren Altersgruppen.…”

“…Besonders davon betroffen zeigen sich dabei die höheren Altersgruppen. So ergab sich bei der norwegischen HUNT (Hearing loss and risk of early retirement) Studie (Helvik et al 2012 …”