Korean J Fam Pract 2020; 10(4): 273-278  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2020.10.4.273
Association between Insufficient Physical Activity and Hearing Loss in Korean Adults
Young Keun Park1, Yeong Sik Jo1, Ji-Hoo Yook2, Cham-Jin Park2, Na Ra Yoo1, Ji Hye Lim1, Min Sun Jeon1, Young Kyu Park1,*
1Department of Family Medicine, Bundang Jaeseng Hospital, Bundang; 2Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Young Kyu Park
Tel: +82-31-779-0152, Fax: +82-31-779-0169
E-mail: pyk0706@dmc.or.kr
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6095-7136
Received: July 23, 2019; Revised: January 6, 2020; Accepted: June 16, 2020; Published online: August 20, 2020.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Insufficient physical activity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and some studies report relationship between physical activity and hearing. We aimed to analyze association between hearing loss and physical activity level in Korean adults.
Methods: We used data from the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Insufficient physical activity was defined as a combined physical activity of less than 150 minutes per week.. Hearing loss was identified when the audible threshold decreased more than 40 dB. We performed multiple logistic regression analysis of major covariates and stratified the participants by age (≥60 versus <60).
Results: We analyzed 3,237 participants for whom no values were missing. In the final multivariate logistic analysis, the odds ratio of hearing loss was 1.227 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.008–1.494) in the all frequency group and 1.361 (95% CI, 1.073–1.727) in the low frequency group. The result for the high frequency group was not statistically significant. In the group aged ≥60 years, the odds ratio of hearing loss in the all, low, and high frequency groups were 1.277 (95% CI, 1.011–1.613), 1.405 (95% CI, 1.074–1.839), and 1.298 (95% CI, 1.013–1.662), respectively.
Conclusion: In this study, insufficient physical activity was associated with hearing loss in Korean adults. This result was more significant in the group aged ≥60 years. Further studies should aim to validate these results and determine the causal relationship between physical inactivity and hearing loss.
Keywords: Exercise; Hearing Loss; Cardiovascular Diseases
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