OBJECTIVETo study the correlation between noise and blood pressure and/or hypertension, and its age characteristic.

METHODSThe pure tone audiometric and blood pressure examinations were performed in 14537 workers from 157 factories. Hearing impairment was used as a surrogate indicator of cumulated noise exposure. The associations of hearing impairment and duration of noise exposure with blood pressure and hypertension were analyzed respectively after age and gender stratification.

RESULTSMost of the objects were males (81.2%), younger than 35 years old (77.8%), and the duration of exposure to noise was less than 5 years (73.6%). The prevalence of hearing impairment in males was significantly higher than that in males, and increased with age and duration of noise exposure. Only in males with age younger than 35 years old, the systolic and diastolic blood pressures of subjects with sensorineural hearing loss significantly enhanced, and the diastolic blood pressure and prevalence of hypertension increased with duration of noise exposure. The risk of hypertension in males with sensorineural hearing loss significantly increased, the odds ratios in subjects with age younger than 35 years old and with age older than 35 years old were 3.0 (95%CI: 1.5 ∼ 6.1) and 2.1 (95%CI: 1.2 ∼ 3.4), respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe severe hearing impairment induced by noise was associated with hypertension. It is suggested that people should pay attention to the effects of noise on hypertension in young workers.