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.