Prevalencia de hipoacusia en adultos en relación laboral en el HTMC en el periodo 2010 - 2015.

Abstract

Introduction: According to WHO, 360 million people have hearing loss or deafness. Of the main causes acquired, it is recognized the occupational exposure to excessive noise as a cause of hearing loss. Objective: To determine the prevalence of hearing loss in a working relationship in the otorhinolaryngology area of HTMC in the period 2010-2015. M aterial and method: A cross-sectional cohort study performed at the HTMC in the city of Guayaquil, from January 2010 to December 2015. We included male and female patients aged 25 to 55 years with diagnosis of noise -induced neurosensory hearing loss in Employment relationship that entered the otorhinolaryngology service. We excluded patients with incomplete HC, with psychological or psychiatric incapacity and with deafness prior to the work activity, all the patients that entered during the study period that met the selection criteria, were audiometry, which assessed their total hearing loss. The analysis of the results was carried out with frequencies and percentages for the qualitative variables and with average and standard deviation for the quantitative variables. Results: The study included 108 patients with a diagnosis of occupational hearing loss, 66 (61.1%) were male and 42 (38.9%) were female. The mean age was 39.13 years, wi th a standard deviation of 5, 083. The occupations with the highest occupational hearing loss were classified as occupational groups, with 55 (50.9%) cases being the most severe. The most frequent symptom found in labor hypoacusis was tinnitus with 90 (30. 3%) patients. In the study patients were classified in 6 degrees of hearing loss according to the SAL scale, in the study there was a greater predominance in moderate deafness with 49 (45.4%) cases. Most patients had comorbidities such as diabetes in 80 (5 3.7%) patients and a lower degree in hypertension were 69 (46.3%) cases. The frequency of protective measures was low during their working years with 16 (14.8%) cases. At present most of the patients analyzed in this study use hearing aids o improve their hearing level. Conclusions: It is verified that the noise produced in industrial labor areas has the highest prevalence of cases in workers with occupational hypoacusia due to having 50.9% of patients, while the personnel working in the health area presen ted the lowest Prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss with 1.9% of cases.