People with long-term exposure to loud noise at work or
in leisure activities may be at increased risk of heart disease, a U.S. study
finds.
Researchers found the strongest link in working-age
people with high-frequency hearing loss, which is typically the result of
chronic noise exposure.
"Compared with people with normal high-frequency
hearing, people with bilateral high-frequency hearing loss were approximately
two times more likely to have coronary heart disease," said lead author
Dr. Wen Qi Gan of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health in
Lexington.
Past research has already linked noise exposure,
especially in workplaces, to coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and
other illnesses, Gan and his colleagues write in Occupational and Environmental
Medicine. But many of these studies lacked individual information about actual
noise exposure, relying instead on average decibel levels in the person's
environment.
High-frequency hearing loss, the researchers say, is a
better indicator of exposure to loud noise over time.
To investigate the connection with heart disease, the
researchers looked at data on 5,223 participants in national health surveys
between 1999 and 2004. Participants ranged in age from 20 to 69 at the time
they were surveyed.
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