Relationship of Overall Cardiovascular Health and Hearing Loss in The Jackson Heart Study Population

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the relationships among the overall cardiovascular health scoring tool, Life's Simple 7 (LS7), and hearing in an African-American cardiovascular study cohort. Methods: Using the Jackson Heart Study's cohort of African Americans, the relationships between the LS7 scoring metric and hearing of 1314 individuals were assessed. Standard audiometric data was collected and hearing loss was defined as a four-frequency average of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz greater than 25 dBHL (PTA4). Measures of reported tinnitus and dizziness were also collected. The LS7 scoring tool, which consists of seven individual categories (abstinence from smoking, body mass index, physical activity, healthy diet, total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, normotension, and absence of diabetes mellitus), was used as measure of overall cardiovascular health. Each category of the LS7 was broken down into poor, intermediate, and ideal subgroups as in accordance with the American Heart Association Strategic Planning Task Force and Statistics Committee. Unadjusted and adjusted gamma regression and logistic regression models were constructed for determining relationships between LS7 and hearing loss. Results: Higher total LS7 scores (per 1-unit increase) were associated with lower PTA4 in gamma regression analyses (RR = 0.942, 95% CI, 0.926-0.958, P < .001). This held true even after adjustments for age, sex, education, and history of noise exposure. Using logistic regression analyses to compare LS7 scores to presence of hearing loss, tinnitus, and vertigo; only hearing loss showed a statically significant relationship after adjustments for age, sex, education, and history of noise exposure. Conclusions: This study shows a significant, graded association between higher life's simple seven scores and lower incidence of hearing loss.

Impact of vision and hearing impairments on risk of cardiovascular outcomes and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes: A nationwide cohort study

“…In a study by Sorrel et al 27 , sensorineural hearing loss was associated with a high stroke risk. The incidence of hearing loss was greater in those with greater cardiovascular risk factors 26 .…”

“…Hearing impairment was associated with albuminuria, a higher level of the albumin-tocreatinine ratio and a lower level of the estimated glomerular filtration rate in patients with diabetes in previous studies 24,25 . Although the risk of cardiovascular diseases and mortality with hearing loss has not been reported in patients with diabetes, hearing loss has been associated with increased cardiovascular diseases in the general population 26,27 . In a study by Sorrel et al 27 , sensorineural hearing loss was associated with a high stroke risk.…”

Relationship between ideal cardiovascular health metrics and hearing loss: A 10‐year retrospective cohort study

“…Nevertheless, none of the above studies examined the association between smoking and hearing loss using a large population-based cohort and cohort analyses, as in our study. Although a recent study showed no statistically significant difference between smoking status and hearing loss, this difference could be explained by an uneven distribution of the smoking metric, with approximately 90% of subjects being categorised as nonsmokers 9 compared with the 2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, which indicated that 19.7% of U.S. adults use any kind of tobacco product. 22 In our study, 16.8% of the smoking population was classified as having a poor status, which is more likely to represent the general population in Taiwan (14.5% current smoking in 2017 according to the Taiwan Tobacco Control Annual Report).…”

“…In addition, none of the above studies utilised the AHA’s 7 CVH metrics 19 to assess an individual's CVH. A recent study conducted in the United States demonstrated an association between overall CVH (using the AHA’s 7 CVH metrics) and hearing loss, revealing that subjects with increased CVH scores were connected to a reduced chance of hearing loss 9 . However, the cross‐sectional design of the study limited the results.…”

“…For example, a cross‐sectional study conducted in the Mississippi metropolitan area discovered that participants who engage in vigorous or moderate physical activity are more likely to have better hearing performance in some frequency ranges 25 . Another recent study assessing physical activity in ideal CVH scores found a connection between hearing loss and the intermediate metric for physical activity, but this connection was not statistically significant for the ideal metric 9 . However, our study found no significant association between physical activity and hearing loss in the cohort analysis after excluding those with tinnitus.…”