COMPARISON OF BLOOD-PRESSURE IN DEAF-MUTE CHILDREN AND CHILDREN WITH NORMAL-HEARING - ASSOCIATION BETWEEN NOISE AND BLOOD-PRESSURE

The present study assessed the relationship between noise exposure and blood pressure. The study population consisted of 892 children from two elementary schools. The noise-sensitive group comprised 583 subjects with normal hearing from one school, while the noise-insensitive group comprised 309 deaf-mutes from another school. The deaf subjects had significantly lower blood pressure than the subjects with normal hearing (P < 0.05) after adjustment for age. Multiple regression analysis revealed that body mass index, age, and hearing ability explained a significant amount of the variation in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (R2 = 0.17 and 0.16, respectively). On the basis of the results, it is suggested that noise exposure is associated with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure.