Association between individual, household, and area-level socioeconomic status indicators and sensorineural hearing loss in adults in southwest Iran: a population-based study

Zahra Rahimi; Nader Saki; Bahman Cheraghian; Payam Amini; Masoud Solaymani Dodaran

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1140500

Association between individual, household, and area-level socioeconomic status indicators and sensorineural hearing loss in adults in southwest Iran: a population-based study

Front Public Health. 2023 Apr 17:11:1140500. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1140500. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Zahra Rahimi¹, Nader Saki^{2

3}, Bahman Cheraghian^{2

4}, Payam Amini⁵, Masoud Solaymani Dodaran¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Hearing Research Center, Clinical Sciences Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
³ Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁵ Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Hearing loss is the fourth most common chronic disease, but studies on the relationship between hearing loss and socioeconomic factors are limited. We aimed to examine the association between hearing loss and socioeconomic factors among 35-70 year adults in southwest Iran.

Materials and methods: This population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the baseline of Hoveyzeh cohort study in adults aged 35-70 in southwest Iran between 2017 and 2021. Information on socioeconomic factors, demographic characteristics, comorbidities, family history of hearing loss, and noise exposure was collected. We assessed the relationship between three levels of socioeconomic factors (individual, household, and area level) with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Multiple logistic regression was used to adjust the potential confounders.

Results: Among a total of 1,365 assessed participants, 485 patients were diagnosed as having hearing loss, and the other 880 individuals were diagnosed without hearing loss, which is considered the case and the control group, respectively. At the individual level of socioeconomic, the odds of having hearing loss in the participants with high school education and diploma, [OR = 0.51 (95%CI:0.28-0.92)], and the individuals with university education [OR = 0.44 (95%CI:0.22-0.87)] were significantly lower than the illiterate participants. At the household socioeconomic level, the odds of having hearing loss were lower for those with poor [OR = 0.63 (95%CI:0.41-0.97)] and moderate [OR = 0.62 (95%CI:0.41-0.94)] wealth status vs. those with the poorest wealth status. In the area level socioeconomic, although the odds of hearing loss in the residents of affluent areas were slightly lower than the residents of deprived areas, there was no significant difference among the groups.

Conclusion: The individuals with hearing loss may have insufficient education and income.

Keywords: Iran; education; hearing loss; sensorineural; socioeconomic status.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Cohort Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Hearing Loss*
Hearing Loss, Sensorineural* / diagnosis
Hearing Loss, Sensorineural* / epidemiology
Humans
Iran / epidemiology
Social Class

Grants and funding

The Vice-Chancellor provided financial support for Research at Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, grant number 19487. As our funding body, the Vice-Chancellor for Research at Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, played no role in the study design and data gathering, analysis, and interpretation of data and the writing of the manuscript.