A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY: HEARING IMPAIRMENT AND CONTRIBUTING FACTORS AMONG MANUFACTURING FACTORY WORKERS

Noise is an important occupational health hazard, with a high prevalence in the manufacturing industry. Expose to excessive noise can pose a risk to human health. Most commonly and of greatest interest, exposure to excessive noise may result in permanent damage to hearing. The aim of this study is to evaluate the determining factors of hearing impairment in manufacturing factory workers. Unmatched case control study was carried out among manufacturing factory workers at ?XYZ? Company Qatar. Respondents consisted of 19 cases that were diagnosed from 2013 to 2018 with 176 controls from the same work place. Multivariate analysis was used to determine the association between hearing impairment and the contributing risks being studied. The results of partial logistic regression analysis showed aging (p<0.05), noise dose exposure (p<0.05) and infrequent use of HPD (p<0.05) associated to hearing impairment incident significantly. Service duration (p>0.05), hypercholesterolemia (p>0.05), smoking (p>0.05), diabetes (p>0.05), and hypertension (p>0.05) were not associated to the hearing impairment. Odd Ratio of noise dose exposure to hearing impairment Exp(B) 11.8 (95% CI: 2.498-56.043), infrequent use of HPD Exp(B) 7.3 (95% CI: 2.366-22.585), and aging Exp(B) 1.121 (95% CI:1.023-1.228). In this study the author concludes that the noise dose exposure was strongest predictor to hearing impairment rather than infrequent use of HPD and aging factor.