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 Researchers found the strongest link in working-age people with
high-frequency hearing loss, which is typically the result of
chronic noise exposure.
“Compared with people with normal high-frequency hearing, people
with bilateral high-frequency hearing loss were approximately two
times more likely to have coronary heart disease,” said lead author
Dr. Wen Qi Gan of the University of Kentucky College of Public
Health in Lexington.
Past research has already linked noise exposure, especially in
workplaces, to coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and other
illnesses, Gan and his colleagues write in Occupational and
Environmental Medicine. But many of these studies lacked individual
information about actual noise exposure, relying instead on average
decibel levels in the person’s environment.
High-frequency hearing loss, the researchers say, is a better
indicator of exposure to loud noise over time.
To investigate the connection with heart disease, the researchers
looked at data on 5,223 participants in national health surveys
between 1999 and 2004. Participants ranged in age from 20 to 69 at
the time they were surveyed.
Overall, people with high-frequency hearing loss in both ears were
about twice as likely to have coronary heart disease compared to
those with normal high-frequency hearing. Among those age 50 and
under, who were also most likely to be exposed to loud noise at
work, the heart disease risk was increased four-fold.
There was no link to heart disease among people with one-sided
hearing loss or loss of lower-frequency hearing, the study team
notes, further supporting the idea that noise exposure is the
culprit.
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The study only looked at people at one time point, however, and
cannot prove that noise or hearing loss are direct causes of heart
disease. The researchers also acknowledge that they relied on study
participants’ own recollections about their work and leisure-time
noise exposure.
Nonetheless, Gan said, accumulating evidence suggests that exposure
to loud noise can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
Gan advises people to eliminate or reduce excessive noise exposure
in the home and workplace. "Using earmuffs and earplugs can reduce
personal noise exposure,” he told Reuters Health by email.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1j5lQQX Occupational Environmental Medicine,
online September 15, 2015.
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