Table 1

Relationship between peripheral hearing ability and baseline demographics

Normal peripheral hearing (n=176)Peripheral hearing impaired (n=111)P valueAssociation with PTA
Age at baseline, years, mean (SD)70.5
(0.6)		70.5
(0.6)		0.39*r=0.06 (p=0.3)†
Female, n (%)91
(51.7)		47
(42.3)		0.15‡p=0.25*
TIV, mL, mean (SD)1430
(135)		1445
(128)		0.32¶r=−0.03 (p=0.67)†
APOE4 carrier, n (%)¶54
(30.1)		32
(28.8)		0.69‡p=0.08*
Childhood cognition, z-score, mean (SD)0.40
(0.72)		0.48
(0.71)		0.39§r=0.06 (p=0.92)†
Advanced education, n (%)99
(56.3)		52
(46.8)		0.15‡p=0.15*
Non-manual occupation (parental), n (%)70
(39.8)		43
(38.7)		0.90‡p=0.83*
Non-manual occupation
(own adult), n (%)		22
(12.5)		20
(18.0)		0.23‡p=0.32*
PTA best hearing ear, dB HL, median (IQR)17.5
(13.8–21.3)		31.3
(27.5–37.5)		<0.001*n/a
Hearing aid use, n (%)3
(1.7)		39
(35.1)		<0.001‡p<0.001*
Self-reported tinnitus, n (%)30
(17.1)		36
(32.4)		0.004‡p=0.0025*

  • Hearing impairment at baseline was defined as a PTA of greater than 25 Decibels in the best hearing ear.

  • *Unadjusted Mann-Whitney U test.

  • †Spearman’s rank correlation.

  • ‡Unadjusted Fisher’s exact test.

  • §Unadjusted Student’s t-test.

  • ¶Defined on basis of presence of at least one APOE4 allele there was a small number of APOE4 homozygotes including 6 (3.4%) with normal hearing and 2 (1.8%) with impaired hearing (p=0.49).

  • n/a, not available; PTA, pure tone average; TIV, total intracranial volume.