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Association between the Healthy Eating Index 2015 and hearing loss among American adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2025

Juan Jiang Open the ORCID record for Juan Jiang [Opens in a new window]  and
WanLei Chi
Juan Jiang*
Affiliation:
Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, ZJ, China
WanLei Chi
Affiliation:
Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, ZJ, China
*
Corresponding author: Juan Jiang; Email: 18255258913@163.com
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Abstract

Objective

To investigate the association between Healthy Eating Index 2015 scores and hearing loss.

Methods

This study used cross-sectional data from individuals aged over 20 years (n = 5171) who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2012 and from 2015 to 2018. Information was collected on their hearing, Healthy Eating Index 2015 scores, and several other important covariates using multivariate regression analyses.

Results

After adjusting for potential confounders, when hearing loss was defined as ≥20 dB, the odds ratios for low-frequency and high-frequency hearing loss were 0.99 (95 per cent confidence interval (CI) = 0.98−0.99, p < 0.001) and 0.99 (95 per cent CI = 0.98−1, p = 0.006), respectively. When hearing loss was defined as >25 dB, the odds ratios for low-frequency hearing loss and speech-frequency band hearing loss were 0.98 (95 per cent CI = 0.98−0.99, p < 0.001) and 0.99 (95 per cent CI = 0.98−1, p = 0.008), respectively.

Conclusion

In U.S. adults, the Healthy Eating Index 2015 is associated with hearing loss.

Keywords

hearing lossnutrition surveysdiet, healthynoise exposure

Information

Type
Clinical Records
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , First View , pp. 1 - 7
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of J.L.O. (1984) LIMITED.

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Footnotes

Juan Jiang takes responsibility for the integrity of the content of the paper

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