Dietary patterns and hearing loss in middle aged and older Americans

项目总结 听力损失在老年人中非常普遍，大约一半的成年人在 60岁在美国(美国)值得注意的是，鉴于该国目前的老龄化趋势， 预计到2060年，患有听力损失的老年人的比例将翻一番。以前被认为是 衰老的无关紧要的方面，最近的研究表明听力损失是一个独立的预测因素 与年龄相关的身体和认知功能下降、偶发痴呆症、残疾和住院。 因此，迫切需要确定有效的战略，以延迟发病和 防止与衰老相关的听力损失。饮食因素被认为通过以下方式影响听力状况 调节内耳对噪音侮辱和有害的年龄相关变化的脆弱性。在此期间 已经对几种营养素和整体饮食质量进行了研究，到目前为止，文献的显著局限性是 采用横断面设计或采用自我报告的方式测量听力状况，灵敏度低 与客观测量的听力损失或由于只包含一种性别而限制的概括性相比， 主要是一个种族/民族和较短的随访期。饮食模式现在构成了营养的基础 研究和政策；而且有越来越多的证据表明遵循地中海式饮食的好处 在预防慢性病和与年龄相关的身体和认知功能下降方面。然而， 目前还没有调查在精心设计的研究中检验其与客观存在的联系 测得的听力损失。因此，我们建议通过开展一项研究来解决这一研究差距：(A) 生活在地中海地区的中老年人坚持地中海式饮食模式的特征 美国使用了三个指数，一个基于传统的地中海饮食，另一个基于联邦指南 第三个基于地中海和饮食方法的混合方法来阻止高血压模式， (B)审查使用这些指数评估的地中海式饮食的坚持是否与 是年龄相关听力损失的预测指标，最后，(C)确定年龄与听力损失之间的联系 地中海式饮食模式对高频和低频听力损失的影响。这项研究将在 NIA支持的巴尔的摩老龄化纵向研究(BLSA)。《基本法》为我们提供了机会 前瞻性分析，包括使用有效方法收集的饮食数据，听力损失 使用测听检查和大量关于潜在协变量和 混杂因素也被收集起来了。

PROJECT SUMMARY Hearing loss is highly prevalent among older individuals, and affects approximately half of all adults over the age of 60 years in the United States (U.S.) Notably, given the current aging trends in the country, the number of older adults with hearing loss is projected to double by the year 2060. Previously considered as an inconsequential aspect of aging, recent research has implicated hearing loss as an independent predictor of age-related declines in physical and cognitive functioning, incident dementia, disability, and institutionalization. There is, therefore, an urgent need for the identification of effective strategies in delaying the onset and preventing aging-associated hearing loss. Dietary factors are considered to influence hearing status by mediating vulnerability of the inner ear to noise insult and to detrimental age-related changes. And while several nutrients and overall diet quality have been studied, a significant limitation of the literature to date has been either cross-sectional design or use of self-report for measuring hearing status, which has low sensitivity compared to objectively measured hearing loss or limited generalizability due to inclusion of only one sex, predominantly one race/ethnicity and short follow-up period. Dietary patterns now form the basis of nutrition research and policy; and there is accumulating evidence on the benefits of following a Mediterranean-style diet in the prevention of chronic diseases and age-related declines in physical and cognitive functioning. However, there are no investigations that have examined its associations in a carefully designed study with objectively measured hearing loss. We therefore propose to address this gap in research, by conducting a study to: (a) characterize adherence to a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern in middle aged and older adults living in the U.S. using three indices, one based the traditional Mediterranean diet, another based on the federal guidelines and the third based on a hybrid of Mediterranean and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension patterns, (b) examine whether adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet, assessed using these indices, is associated with and is a predictor of age-related hearing loss, and lastly, (c) determine the associations between a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern on high and low frequency hearing loss. This study will be conducted in the NIA-supported Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA). The BLSA provides us the opportunity for prospective analyses and includes dietary data collected using valid methods, hearing loss which has been objectively assessed using audiometry examinations, and a wealth of data on potential covariates and confounders has also been collected.