The characteristics of hearing loss in outpatients with tinnitus over the age of 60: a 11-year cross-sectional study

AbstractBackground Presbycusis with tinnitus has a significant impact on the quality of life of elderly patients, becoming a serious socioeconomic problem.Objectives We conducted an 11-year cross-sectional analysis of the audiometry results of elderly patients with tinnitus from 2011 to 2021.Methods 9642 patients aged 60 and over were divided into three groups: young-old (YO) (60–74), old–old (OO) (75–89), and longevous (LON) (90 and over). Pure-tone audiometry results of all patients were analyzed.Results Among 9642 patients, the cases of female with tinnitus were more than male in all years. The hearing curve showed a typical age-related decline. Hearing level of air conduction in female declined significantly at low frequencies while that of male was worse at high frequencies in YO and OO groups. Compared with right, left hearing level of air conduction was significantly decreased at all frequencies except 0.125 kHz.Conclusions When the chief complaint was tinnitus, women were likely to experience more distress than men. However, men suffered from more hearing loss than women, at least in high frequencies. The influence weight of presbycusis and tinnitus on the auditory cortices might be a possible reason for the lateral distinction of hearing loss at different ages.Chinese Abstract背景老年性耳聋伴耳鸣对老年患者的生活质量有着显著影响, 成为一个严重的社会经济问题。目的2011年至2021年间, 我们对老年人耳鸣患者的听力测试结果进行了 11 年的横断面分析。方法9642 名 60 岁及以上患者被分为三组: 年轻老人 (YO) (60-74岁)、老-老人(OO)(75-89岁)和长寿老人(LON)(90岁及以上)。 对所有患者的纯音测听结果进行了分析。结果9642例患者中, 所以年龄段女性耳鸣病例均多于男性。 听力曲线呈现出典型的与年龄相关的下降。 在YO 组和 OO 组中, 女性气导听力水平在低频时明显下降, 而男性在高频时表现更差。与右侧相比, 左侧空气传导听力水平在所有频率上均显著下降, 0.125kHz 除外。结论当主诉是耳鸣时, 女性可能会比男性经历更多的痛苦。 然而, 男性比女性遭受更多的听力损失, 至少在高频处是如此。 老年性耳聋和耳鸣对听觉皮层的影响可能是导致不同年龄段听力损失的横向区别。Keywords: Age-related hearing losspresbycusistinnitushearing threshold Ethical approvalAll examinations and procedures were conducted according to the guidelines of the Ethics Committee of the PLA General Hospital and approved by the Clinical Ethics Committee of the Institute of clinical medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementAll data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by grants from the Open project National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases (202200010), Capital’s Funds for Health Improvement and Research (No.2022-1-2023), National Key Research and Development Project of China (2020YFC2005200)