Haemoglobin A1c and hearing impairment: longitudinal analysis using a large occupational health check-up data of Japan.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine whether haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level is associated with the incidence of hearing impairment accounting for smoking status and diabetic condition at baseline.

Methods

Participants were 131 689 men and 71 286 women aged 30-65 years and free of hearing impairment at baseline (2008) who attended Japanese occupational annual health check-ups from 2008 to 2015. We defined low-frequency hearing impairment at a hearing threshold >30 dB at 1 kHz and high frequency at >40 dB at 4 kHz in the better ear in pure-tone audiometric tests. HbA1c was categorised into seven categories. The association between HbA1c and hearing impairment was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards model.

Results

On 5 years mean follow-up, high HbA1c

SUBMITTER: Nagahama S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6144394 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature