Relationship between tinnitus and olfactory dysfunction: audiovisual, olfactory, and medical examinations

Lifestyle habits and examination findings before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: From health checkups in a rural area in Japan

Aim: Few health checkup studies have reported lifestyle habits and examination results before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compared lifestyle habits and examination results surveyed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Five hundred and ten and 396 participants attended the health checkup in 2019 and 2022, respectively. The median age of females was 65 in 2019 and 2022, and that of males was 68 in 2019 and 69 in 2022. We investigated dietary and exercise habits, alcohol consumption, sleeping situation, and examination results, including body mass index (BMI), smell function, and blood examination results before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural area in Japan. Results: An ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that the intake frequency of vegetables and marine products was significantly less in 2022 than in 2019 after adjusting age and sex; green leafy vegetables (p = .016), fish (p = .002), and other marine products, including squid, shrimp, crabs, and octopus (p = .008). Alcohol consumption amount increased significantly in 2022 than in 2019 in men who drank beer (p = .007) and chuhai (p = .040). Albumin, hematocrit, cholesterols, and uric acid decreased, but serum calcium increased significantly in 2022 than in 2019 after adjusting age and sex. BMI and hemoglobin A1c were not significantly different between 2019 and 2022. A decrease in subjective smell feeling and smell test results was associated with decreased intake frequency of vegetables. Conclusion: Both dietary habits and blood examination results changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural area in Japan.

The Benefit of Air Conduction Pure-Tone Audiometry as a Screening Method for Hearing Loss over the VAS Score

Hearing loss is commonly encountered by general practitioners. We aimed to evaluate the screening benefit of air conduction pure-tone audiometry over visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for hearing loss. Moreover, we intended to perform the first cross-sectional study in Greece to assess hearing loss with pure-tone audiometry in young adults of the general population. We evaluated Greeks between 15 and 40 years old in a high school in Karditsa, Greece, and a primary health care unit in a nearby community. Subjects filled out a VAS score sheet and underwent pure-tone audiometry in a room without sound isolation, with air conduction only. We named the latter procedure modified pure-tone audiometry (mPTA). Subjects with pathologic results were examined via otoscopy and standardized pure-tone audiometry (sPTA). Of the 286 subjects evaluated, the VAS score revealed 5 subjects (1.7%) with hearing loss. mPTA (100 s duration) doubled this percentage (in total 3.8%; Pearson Chi-Square test; p < 0.001). Based on sPTA, the sensitivity and positive predictive value of the VAS score were 40% and 13%, respectively. For mPTA, they were 100% and 37%, respectively. mPTA filtered out pathologic cases in a proper, rapid, cheap and simple way and may be considered a proper screening method for hearing loss in primary health care.