Association between Socioeconomic Factors and Hearing Loss in Working Population

Azam  Biabani; Mojtaba  Zokaei; Mohsen Falahati; Shahla  Ziamanesh

doi:10.18502/aoh.v5i3.7165

Azam Biabani Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran• 2 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical
Mojtaba Zokaei Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran• 2 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical
Mohsen Falahati Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran
Shahla Ziamanesh Department of Occupational Health and Safety Engineering, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/aoh.v5i3.7165

Keywords: Hearing loss; Socioeconomic status; Automotive industry; Occupational health

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to investigate the association between demographic, social, and economic factors of employees and hearing loss.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the required data were extracted from the periodic medical examination of 987 workers in an automotive industry. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to study the associations. The data were analyzed in the SPSS software.

Results: In this study, most of the subjects were in the age group of 30-49 years and also had less than 10 years of working experience. In terms of education level, most of them had a diploma. The relationship between work experience and hearing loss indicated profound hearing loss among a workers with 10 to 20 years of work experience. According to age, the subjects over the age of 55 years had the highest prevalence of hearing loss (p = 0.04).

Conclusion: Age and work experience, education, income, and type of job are among the factors that could predict the at risk population for hearing loss.