[Proposal for presbycusis screening in a primary care clinic].

OBJECTIVES

Presbycusis is one of the causes of deafness that has increased most in our society. To show the levels of presbycusis in people over 60 who attend our health centre for other reasons and to assess the utility of certain tests employed in primary care to detect hearing problems.

PATIENTS AND METHOD: One-hundred and ten people.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA: prior specialist diagnosis, lack of consent or impossibility of running the tests. Assessment of auditory invalidity: otoscopy, Weber, Rinne, whispered voice, auditory disability test. Audiological validation by audiometry assessed by ORL. Results analysed with SPSS statistical packet.

RESULTS

Mean age 714 (6.1). Otoscopy was normal in 81.8%. Weber's test had no significant relationship with the otoscopy, but did with the Rinne. Presbycusis was seen in 68.2% of the audiometries. Everyone (100%) who had worked in a noisy environment had audiometric deficit.

CONCLUSIONS

There were high figures (87%) for hypoacusis in our population of elderly people. In 68.2%, this was due to presbycusis. The sensitivity and negative predictive value (Vp-) of most of the tests used in primary care to detect auditory disorders are low.