Investigation of hearing loss in elderly vertigo and dizziness patients in the past 10 years

Qian Wang; Aiting Chen; Mengdi Hong; Xingjian Liu; Yi Du; Ziming Wu; Wenbo Cheng; Fei Ji

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2023.1225786

Investigation of hearing loss in elderly vertigo and dizziness patients in the past 10 years

Front Aging Neurosci. 2023 Sep 15:15:1225786. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1225786. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Qian Wang^{1

2

3

4}, Aiting Chen^{1

2

3

4}, Mengdi Hong^{1

2

3

4}, Xingjian Liu^{1

2

3

4}, Yi Du^{1

2

3

4}, Ziming Wu^{1

2

3

4}, Wenbo Cheng⁵, Fei Ji^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
² National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases, Beijing, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Hearing Science, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory of Hearing Impairment Prevention and Treatment, Beijing, China.
⁵ Academy of Medical Technology and Information Engineering, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

Background: Vertigo and hearing loss are both prevalent in the elderly. This study retrospectively analyzed hearing test results from elderly patients experiencing vertigo and dizziness at ENT outpatient over a 10-year period, in order to study the patterns of hearing loss in this patient population.

Methods: Nine thousand three hundred eighty four patients over 50 years old underwent retrospective collection and screening of outpatient diagnosis, pure tone audiometry, acoustic immittance measurement (tympanogram) and auditory brainstem response (ABR) test. The patient's audiograms are divided into 7 subtypes according to a set of fixed criteria. Meanwhile, K-Means clustering analysis method was used to classify the audiogram.

Results: The Jerger classification of tympanogram in elderly patients with vertigo and dizziness showed the majority falling under type A. The leading audiogram shapes were flat (27.81% in right ear and 26.89% in left ear), high-frequency gently sloping (25.97% in right ear and 27.34% in left ear), and high-frequency steeply sloping (21.60% in right ear and 22.53% in left ear). Meniere's disease (MD; 30.87%), benign recurrent vertigo (BRV; 19.07%), and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV; 15.66%) were the most common etiologies in elderly vestibular diseases. We observed statistically significant differences in hearing thresholds among these vestibular diseases (P < 0.001). K-Means clustering analysis suggested that the optimal number of clusters was three, with sample sizes for the three clusters being 2,747, 2,413, and 4,139, respectively. The ANOVA statistical results of each characteristic value showed P < 0.001.

Conclusion: The elderly patients often have mild to moderate hearing loss as a concomitant symptom with vertigo. Female patients have better hearing thresholds than males. The dominant audiometric shapes in this patient population were flat, high-frequency gently sloping, and high-frequency steeply sloping according to a set of fixed criteria. This study highlights the need for tailored strategies in managing hearing loss in elderly patients with vertigo and dizziness.

Keywords: acoustic immittance measurement; auditory brainstem response (ABR); dizziness; elderly; hearing loss; pure tone audiometry; vertigo.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by funding of the Open Project National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases (202200010) and the Capital's Funds for Health Improvement and Research (No. 2022-1-2023).