Estimating the worldwide burden of health loss due to hearing loss

Riccardo Nocini; Brandon M Henry; Giuseppe Lippi; Camilla Mattiuzzi

doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckac171

Estimating the worldwide burden of health loss due to hearing loss

Eur J Public Health. 2023 Feb 3;33(1):146-148. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckac171.

Authors

Riccardo Nocini¹, Brandon M Henry², Giuseppe Lippi³, Camilla Mattiuzzi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Paediatrics and Gynaecology-Unit of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
² Clinical Laboratory, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
³ Section of Clinical Biochemistry and School of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
⁴ Service of Clinical Governance, Provincial Agency for Social and Sanitary Services (APSS), Trento, Italy.

Abstract

We planned this study to define the worldwide burden of health loss attributed to hearing impairment occurred during the past 10 years according to the 2019 Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx) database. The current worldwide burden of health loss due to all forms of hearing impairment is estimated at 43.4 million Years Lived with Disability (YLDs), representing 28% of cumulative YLDs due to all physical impairments in GHDx. The hearing loss-attributable YLDs have linearly increased (r = 0.997; P < 0.01) by 18.7% during the past 10 years. Reinforced policies are hence needed for preventing development of mild hearing impairment and/or progression toward more severe deficiencies.

MeSH terms

Databases, Factual
Disabled Persons*
Global Health
Hearing Loss* / epidemiology
Hearing Loss* / etiology
Humans
Physical Therapy Modalities
Prevalence
Quality-Adjusted Life Years