Association between risk factors of cardiovascular disease and sensory disorders

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K18051
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Epidemiology and preventive medicine; General internal medicine(including psychosomatic medicine)
• Research Institution: Dokkyo Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Umesawa Mitsumasa 獨協医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (00567498)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 疫学 / 尿蛋白 / 高血圧 / 聴力低下 / 感覚器 / 循環器

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cardiovascular risk factors may be associated with impairment of sensory organs, because blood supply of the organs depends on small vessels. To test our hypothesis, we conducted a study. We used anonymous data of annual health check-up of 2 companies in Japan. We examined the association between dipstick proteinuria and prevalence and incidence of hearing impairment. We also examined the association between hypertension and prevalence of hearing impairment. We found a positive association between proteinuria and prevalence of hearing impairment. For the association between proteinuria and incidence of hearing impairment, subjects with proteinuria at baseline showed higher risk of incidence of hearing impairment, compared with subjects without it. For hypertension, the prevalence of hypertensive subjects was higher than normotensive subjects. We found associations between cardiovascular risk factors and hearing impairment. Further studies will be necessary to confirm these findings.

Free Research Field

公衆衛生

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果は、聴力障害の予防に関するエビデンスの構築に寄与するものである。学術的には世界でもエビデンスの限られる分野であり、日本人のエビデンスを示すことは有意義である。また、聴力障害は認知症や高齢者うつの発症に影響する可能性が指摘されている。高齢者の健康、Quality of Lifeにも深く関わるこれらの疾患の予防は公衆衛生上重要であり、本研究は社会的にも必要とされるエビデンスを示したと考えられる。