ArticleBMJ open2015
Does COPD have a clinically relevant impact on hearing loss? A retrospective matched cohort study with selection of patients diagnosed with COPD.
Article in BMJ open, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Is COPD associated with alterations in hearing? A systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseasePooled it
- The association between lung function and sensory impairments among chinese middle-aged and older adults: a longitudinal cohort study from CHARLS.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2025Article
- Auditory function assessment in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.SAGE open medicine · 2023Article
- Increased Risk of Sensorineural Hearing Loss as a Result of Exposure to Air Pollution.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedCorrection.2016
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a multisystemic disease has a measurable and biologically explainable impact on the auditory function detectable in the laboratory. This study tries to clarify if COPD is also a significant and clinically relevant risk factor for hearing impairment detectable in the general practice setting.
designRetrospective matched cohort study with selection of patients diagnosed with COPD.
setting12 general practices in Lower Austria.
participantsConsecutive patients >35 years with a diagnosis of COPD who consulted 1 of 12 single-handed GPs in 2009 and 2010 were asked to participate. Those who agreed were individually 1:1 matched with controls according to age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease and chronic heart failure.
main outcome measuresSensorineural hearing impairment as assessed by pure tone audiometry, answers of three questions concerning a self-perceived hearing problem, application of the whispered voice test and the score of the Hearing Inventory for the Elderly, Screening Version (HHIE-S).
results194 patients (97 pairs of 194 cases and controls) with a mean age of 65.5 (SD 10.2) were tested. Univariate conditional logistic regression resulted in significant differences in the mean bone conduction hearing loss and in the total score of HHIE-S, in the multiple conditional regression model, only smoking (p<0.0001) remained significant.
conclusionsThe results of this study do not support the hypothesis that there is an association between COPD and hearing impairment which, if found, would have allowed better management of patients with COPD.
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