Predicting hearing loss in noise-exposed petrochemical workers: Influencing factors and a nomogram model

The study aimed to develop a predictive nomogram capable of estimating individual risk within noise-exposed petrochemical workers.

A total of 1700 of noise-exposed petrochemical workers from a certain hospital in Lanzhou between March 1 to July 8, 2024, was surveyed for an occupational exposure and pure tone hearing tests.

The collected data were randomly divided into a training set (70%) and a testing set (30%). Logistic regression analyses were conducted on the training set to identify the influencing factors of hearing loss, and a nomogram was created to predict the risk of hearing loss.

The prevalence of hearing loss among noise-exposed petrochemical workers was 21.71%. Independent influencing factors included male sex (OR = 2.552, 95% CI: 1.444-4.510), increasing age (OR = 1.067, 95% CI: 1.040-1.095), earphone use (OR = 0.652, 95% CI: 0.457-0.932), tinnitus (OR = 2.152, 95% CI: 1.596-2.902), and a family history of hearing loss (OR = 1.420, 95% CI: 1.007-2.003). The AUC area of the nomogram in the training set was 0.743 (95% CI: 0.710-0.776).

Male sex, older age, tinnitus, and a family history of hearing loss were associated with an increased risk of hearing loss, whereas earphone use appeared to be a protective factor in this population. The developed nomogram demonstrated good predictive accuracy and may serve as a practical tool for assessing the risk of hearing loss among noise-exposed petrochemical workers.