ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neuro-Otology
Risk of mortality in the Elderly with Different Degree of Sensorineural Hearing loss in Taiwan
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Neurosurgery, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chiayi, Taiwan, Chiayi, Taiwan
- 2Department of Medical Research, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chiayi, Taiwan., Chiayi, Taiwan
- 3Deparments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chayii, Taiwan
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Introduction: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) may lead to disability in many aspects. This study aims to investigate the risk of mortality in the elderly with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in Taiwan. Methods: Three hundred and eighteen subjects with SNHL of age between 51 and 88 years old were included between August 2000 and December 2002. Averaged pure tone threshold of all tested six frequencies (250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz, and 8000 Hz) of both ears with all audiogram shapes was divided into three cohorts: normal hearing group [0-24 decibel hearing level (dBHL)]; mild SNHL group (25-39 dBHL); moderate and severe SNHL group (40-89 dBHL). The incidence rates of mortality were compared using the Kaplan–Meier method with the log-rank test. Association of SNHL and mortality was examined by a Cox proportional hazard model with adjustment for all covariates. Results: Compared to the normal hearing group, the crude hazard ratio (HR) and adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for mortality in mild SNHL group was 1.51 (95% CI= 0.44-5.14, p=0.5143) and 2.14 (95% CI= 0.45-10.23, p=0.3396), respectively. And, the crude HR and aHR for mortality in moderate and severe SNHL group was 4.82 (95% CI= 1.65-14.07, p=0.0041) and 6.96 (95% CI= 1.60-30.23, p=0.0096), respectively. Conclusion: The risk of mortality was significantly higher in the elderly with moderate and severe SNHL.
Keywords: Mortality, Age-related hearing impairment, Elderly, sensorineural hearing loss, SNHL
Received: 19 May 2025; Accepted: 24 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Hsieh and Hwang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Juen-Haur Hwang, g120796@tzuchi.com.tw
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.