Fig. 3

The cubic spline of the association between log-transformed volume-based BEX and risk of hearing loss. (A) BEX and HL; (B) BEX and HL stratified by age; (C) BEX and HL stratified by sex; (D) BEX and HL stratified by BMI. Models were adjusted for age (continuous, years), sex (male and female), BMI (continuous, kg/m2), education levels (less than high school, high school and college or higher), race/ethnicity (Mexican American, Other Hispanic, Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Black, Other Race - Including Multi-Racial), marital status (married, widowed, divorced, separated, never married, living with partner), PIR (< 1.3, 1.3–3.5, > 3.5), smoking status (no and yes), drinking status(no and yes), diabetes (no and yes), hypertension (no and yes), work noise(no and yes), recreational noise(no and yes), firearm noise(no and yes), and year cycle (2003–2004, 2011–2012, and 2015–2016). Knots = 3. Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; PIR, family income-poverty ratio