Hearing loss, tinnitus, and hypertension: analysis of the baseline data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

To investigate the association among hypertension, tinnitus, andsensorineural hearing loss and evaluate the influence of other covariates onthis association. Baseline data (2008-2010) from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of AdultHealth (ELSA-Brasil) were analyzed. Altogether, 900 participants wereevaluated. The baseline assessment consisted of a 7-hour examination toobtain clinical and laboratory variables. Hearing was measured usingpure-tone audiometry. Overall, 33.3% of the participants had hypertension. Participants withhypertension were more likely to be older, male, and diabetic compared tothose without hypertension. The prevalence of tinnitus was higher amonghypertensive participants and the odds ratio for tinnitus was higher inparticipants with hypertension than in those without hypertension. However,the difference was not significant after adjusting for age. Audiometricresults at 250-8,000 Hz were worse in participants with hypertension than inthose without hypertension in the crude analysis; however, the differenceswere not significant after adjustment for age, sex, diagnosis of diabetes,and exposure to noise. No significant difference was observed in hearingthresholds among participants having hypertension for