GBD 2019: Hearing Loss Prevalence and Years Lived with Disability, 1990-2019
2021
This article from The Lancet provides an updated estimate on the prevalence of hearing loss in 2019 and the conditions associated with the disability for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The authors conducted systematic reviews of population-representative surveys on hearing loss prevalence from 1990 to 2019, finding that an estimated 1.57 billion people globally had hearing loss in 2019. This statistic accounts for one in five people worldwide. Of the 1.57 billion people, 430.3 million had hearing loss that was moderate or higher in severity after adjusting for hearing aid use. Additionally, 430.4 million people had moderate or higher severity without adjustment. A majority of those experiencing hearing loss resided in the Western Pacific region and were older than 50 years. The study predicts that 2.45 billion people will have hearing loss by 2050, a 56.1% increase from the 2019 estimates. Given the large numbers of people that experience and will experience hearing loss, the authors recommend interventions ranging from childhood screening to hearing aids to alleviate the disease burden.
Led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, GBD is a global effort with researchers from over 150 countries and territories. IHME and other partnering organizations have developed numerous resources to disseminate and visualize the findings of the GBD studies, data visualizations and interactives, country profiles, policy reports, research articles, infographics, and the GBD Results Tool, which allows users to search GBD data.
GBD 2019: Hearing Loss Prevalence and Years Lived with Disability, 1990-2019
Source:
GBD 2019 Hearing Loss Collaborators. Hearing Loss Prevention and Years Lived with Disability, 1990-2019: Findings From the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet 2021; 397(10278): 996-1009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00516-X.