Global Sensory Impairment in Older Adults in the United States

Abstract

Objectives Age-related decline of the five classical senses (vision, smell, hearing, touch, and taste) poses significant burdens on older adults. The co-occurrence of multiple sensory deficits in older adults is not well characterized and may reflect a common mechanism resulting in global sensory impairment. Design, Setting, and Participants The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, a representative, population-based study of community dwelling older US adults (57-85 years of age), collected biomarkers, social and health history, and other physiological measures, including sensory function. Measurements We estimated the frequency with which impairment co-occurred across the five senses as an integrated measure of sensory aging. We hypothesized that multisensory deficits would be common and reflect global sensory impairment which would largely explain the effects of age, gender, and race on sensory dysfunction. Results Two thirds (67%) of the older US population suffer from two or more sensory deficits, 27% from just one, and only 6% had none. Impairment of the sense of taste was the most common (74%); 70% had a poor sense of touch; 22% had poor sense of smell; 20% had impaired corrected vision; and 18% had poor corrected hearing. Older adults, men, African Americans, and Hispanics had greater multisensory impairment (all P<0.01). Global sensory impairment largely accounted for the effects of age, gender, and race on the likelihood of impairment of each of the five senses. Conclusion Multisensory impairment is prevalent in older US adults. These data support the concept of a common process that underlies sensory aging across the five senses. Clinicians assessing patients with a sensory deficit should consider further evaluation for additional cooccurring sensory deficits.

Global Sensory Impairment Predicts Morbidity and Mortality in Older U.S. Adults

“…Thus, it is likely that these results are conservative. There may be similar imprecision in other sensory measures, but it is unlikely that these would substantially alter the main results …”

“…To address this gap, the concept of global sensory impairment (GSI), which captures common mechanisms underlying decline of the classical senses, was proposed and tested . This model showed that a common underlying factor explained a significant amount of variation in each of the sensory dysfunctions, supporting the concept of a unified underlying process of sensory aging.…”

“…Multisensory loss appears to be common in older U.S. adults but has been little studied. There are specific neurophysiological changes associated with aging that could increase dysfunction in all senses .…”

Prevalence and risk factors of taste and smell impairment in a nationwide representative sample of the US population: a cross-sectional study

“…Most previous studies were only conducted among older adults 810 12 14 15 Moreover, it has demonstrated that chemosensory disturbances are influenced by a range of demographic and health factors. Importantly, our analysis strongly suggests that a considerable number of Americans suffer from chemosensory disturbances.…”

“…12 17–22 Previous studies attempting to address this issue have provided prevalence estimates ranging from 2.7% to 24.5% for smell dysfunction,8–11 13 17 19 20 and 0.6% to 20% for taste dysfunction 1017 20 22 Such variation likely reflects differences in test methods, criteria for defining dysfunction and both sample sizes and sampling procedures, as well as variations in sex, age, health and ethnic composition of the sampled populations.…”