Prospective Study of Dietary Patterns and Hearing Threshold Decline

Prospective Study of Dietary Patterns and Hearing Threshold Decline:

Abstract

Healthier dietary patterns were associated with lower risk of self-reported hearing loss, but associations with worsening audiometric hearing thresholds have not been prospectively studied. Therefore, we conducted a prospective study among 3135 women (mean age 59 years) in the Nurses' Health Study II (2012-2018). Diet adherence scores for the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Alternate Mediterranean (AMED) diets and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) were calculated using validated food-frequency questionnaires. Baseline and 3-year follow-up hearing sensitivities were assessed by pure-tone audiometry at 19 sites across the United States. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models examined independent associations between diet adherence scores and risk of low-frequency pure-tone average (PTA_{0.5,1,2 kHz}), mid-frequency pure-tone average (PTA_{3,4 kHz}), and high-frequency pure-tone average (PTA_{6,8 kHz}) hearing threshold decline. Higher adherence scores were associated with lower risk of hearing loss. Compared with the lowest quintile of DASH score, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (MVORs) for mid-frequency and high-frequency decline in the highest quintile were 0.71 (95% CI:0.55,0.92; P-trend=0.003) and 0.75 (95% CI:0.59,0.96; P-trend=0.02). For AMED or AHEI scores, the MVORs for mid-frequency decline were 0.77 (95% CI:0.60,0.99; P-trend=0.02) and 0.72 (95% CI:0.57,0.92;P-trend=0.002); non-significant inverse associations were observed for high-frequency decline. There were no significant associations between adherence scores and low-frequency decline. Our findings indicate that eating a healthy diet may reduce the risk of acquired hearing loss.