119 Ear complaints in a general population; the Normative data of the Otology Questionnaire Amsterdam in the Netherlands 6 Discussion In this unique study the self-reported prevalence of ear complaints and impact on qualilty of life using the OQUA in the general population in the Netherlands are presented and evaluated. We present the normative data of the OQUA with separate subscales scores and provide an R script to easily calculate the normscore for the individual patient. Evaluation of ear complaints in the general population can give insights on the current prevalence of ear complaints in each sex and age specific subgroup. In addition, normative data can facilitate and value group-level analysis of PROMs both before and after treatment. This collective examination informs practitioners about overarching changes within the entire patient population undergoing treatment. This perspective aids in refining choices between treatment options and contributes to the ongoing improvement of interventions by identifying trends and patterns in the aggregate data. The reported ear complaints measured by the OQUA in the general population reveal an overall low prevalence of complaints, with different patterns emerging across different age groups. Surprisingly, overall higher scores in complaints were found among the younger participants. High incidence of chronic ear infections as a cause of hearing loss in the younger aged might suggest more complaints related to chronic ear infections in this group as well. Hearing loss normscores are, as expected, noticeable higher in older age groups, but also in the younger age groups, indicating a bimodal distribution. This bimodal distribution can also bee seen in the WHO presentation of causes of hearing loss. The WHO divides causes of hearing loss in age periods. In childhood and adolescence the most frequent causes of hearing loss are chronic ear infections (chronic suppurative otitis media), collection of fluid in the ear (chronic non-suppurative otitis media), meningitis and other infections. The incidence of these causes for hearing loss decreases again towards adulthood. In adulthood, increasing with older age other causes for hearing loss such as otosclerosis, age-related sensorineural degeneration and sudden sensorineural hearing loss become more frequent2. Another explanation for aged related differences could be based on a generational difference. We measured an overall increase of reported complaints in the younger group in all subscales. Perhaps the younger generation is more sensitive and more susceptible for complaints that others would accept as ‘normal’. Older generations, ‘Traditionalists’ (born between 1922-1945) and ‘Baby Boomers’ (born between 1945-1964)) are brought up in a world with less luxury and work as the highest personal fulfillment, whereas ‘Millennials’ (born between
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