Regional Profiling for the Frequency, Patterns, and Factors of Hearing Loss Reveals Genetics, Geriatric Age, and Noise Hazard as Major Predispositions

Abstract

Hearing loss (HL) is a major clinical, population and public health leading to serious disorders and often early mortality. However, there is a significant paucity in high quality data. Saudi Arabia has a genetically uniform and young population; however factors and estimates on prevalence of HL remains unknown. Background/Objectives: we aimed to determine the frequency, factors, and patterns of HL in different regions. Methods: this study was a descriptive cross-sectional design using a web-based online public questionnaire sent out simultaneously to different regions of Saudi Arabia; namely Eastern, Western, Northen, and Southern as self-administered non-probability sample of social media users mainly WhatsApp, Twitter, and others. Results: Among 789 responses, 6.6 % reported HL, 62.4% were from the Eastern province of which 41.2% were employed and 31.7% were students. Many (36.5%) reported HL > 5-years while 21.2% had programmed and fitted with hearing aids or cochlear implants implying negligence. 19.2% reported diabetes and 51.9% had family history. Ages (11– 50 years) were examined with a slight female predominance (females 59.1%, males 41%). Age was significantly associated with HL (P <0.001) irrespective of gender (males 6.8%, females 6.4%, P value =0.838) reaching peaks at 17.2% in age groups 51-60 years and 25% in 71-80 indicating a risk for HL (OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 0.78-2.81, p = 0.032). Genetic diseases reported as leading cause in 34.6% (OR = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.34-3.58, p = 0.432) followed by noise (26.9%), while other factors including infections, stroke, and fevers made 19.2%. Work involving air or sea travels reported (7.7%) with no significant association (P = 0.628) while history of head injury or trauma (11.5%), or relocation between low- and high-altitudes showed 21.2%. However, frequent noise pollution (OR = 1.54, 95% CI: 0.83-3.01, p = 0.048), regular use of medications (OR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.03-3.32, p = 0.017), and history of inflammatory disorders (OR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.32-1.87, p = 0.229) were also associated with higher odds of HL. Conclusion: thus, these findings have significant clinical implications in early diagnosis and management of HL in genetic disorders, diabetes, geriatrics, as well as awareness on family history and occupational health and safety. The study was limited in size and use of online questionnaires. Future large cohort multicenter study would gain more insights.