Association of Lifestyle Behaviors With Hearing Loss: The UK Biobank Cohort Study

Objective: To examine the combined association of five healthy lifestyle behaviors with hearing loss (HL) in the UK Biobank cohort, established between 2006 and 2010 in the United Kingdom. Methods: This longitudinal analysis included 61,958 participants aged 40 to 70 years from April 2007 to December 2016. The healthy behaviors examined were: never smoking, high level of physical activity, high diet quality, moderate alcohol intake, and optimal sleep. Hearing loss was self-reported at baseline and in any physical exam during the follow-up. Results: Over a median follow-up of 3.9 +/- 2.5 years, 3072 (5.0%) participants reported incident HL. After adjustment for potential confounders, including age, social factors, exposure to high-intensity noise, ototoxic medication, and comorbidity, the HRs of HL associated with having 1, 2, 3, and 4 to 5 vs 0 behaviors were: 0.85 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.96), 0.85 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.96), 0.82 (95% CI, 0.71 to 0.94), and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.67 to 0.97), respectively (P for trend, 0.02). We estimated that the population attributable risk percent for not adhering to any five low-risk lifestyle behaviors was 15.6%. Conclusion: In this large study, an increasing number of healthy behaviors was associated with decreased risk of HL. (C) 2022 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research

Automated summary

This study analyzed data from the UK Biobank cohort and found that healthy lifestyle behaviors are associated with decreased risk of hearing loss. Individuals with four to five healthy behaviors had a lower risk of hearing loss compared to those with no healthy behaviors. The population attributable risk for not adhering to any of the five low-risk lifestyle behaviors was estimated to be 15.6%.