Abstract P356: Women’s Reproductive Factors Are Associated With Future Risk of Hearing Loss

Abstract

Introduction: The association between female reproductive factors and risk of hearing loss (HL) has been unclear. Hypothesis: Women’s reproductive factors have been associated with comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which are all linked to hearing loss (HL). We thus hypothesized that reproductive factors might be associated with the risk of HL. Methods: We used data from the UK Biobank (UKB). Reproductive factors included number of children, age at the first/last birth, age at menarche, age at natural menopause, and reproductive period. HL was ascertained using the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) codes H90 (conductive and sensorineural hearing loss) and H91 (other hearing loss). Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the association between reproductive factors and hospital ascertained HL, considering death as a competitive event. In addition, we combined age at menopause with HRT status to see their joint effect on HL. All models were adjusted for age at baseline, ethnicity, education level, income, Townsend deprivation index, BMI, smoking status, drinking status, physical activities, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and HRT use status. Results: Compared to women who had no child, women who had two, three and four or more children was linked to elevated risk of HL, with HR (95% CI) of 1.14 (1.04-1.25), 1.24 (1.11-1.38), and 1.35 (1.17-1.55), respectively. Compared to women who had first birth before age 25 years, women who had first birth greater than age 26 years had reduced risk of HL (0.84, 0.76-0.93). Women who gave last birth over age 40 years had elevated risk of HL (1.21, 1.01-1.45), compared to those who had last birth before age 35 years. Compared to women who had menopause at age 46-50 years, those who had early menopause less than age 45 years were associated with 24% higher risk of HL (1.24, 1.00-1.54). In addition, women with reproductive period less than 30 years had elevated risk of HL (1.19, 1.07-1.34), compared to women with reproductive period greater than 35 years. Women who had age at menopause greater than 50 years and used HRT had 25%-50% higher risk of HL, compared to their counterpart who did not use HRT. Conclusions: In conclusion, higher number of children, having first birth before age 25 years, having last birth after age 40 years, having menopause before age 45 years, and having reproductive period shorter than 30 years were associated with higher risk of hearing loss. In women with menopause age greater than 50 years, HRT use increased the risk of hearing loss.