Hearing Loss and Dementia Prevalence in Older Adults in the US

Huang, Alison; Jiang, Kening; Lin, Frank R.; Deal, Jennifer A.; Reed, Nicholas

doi:10.1001/jama.2022.20954

Cited by 59 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A recent national study found an 11.46% prevalence of dementia in hearing aid device (HAD) users, with a dose-response relationship between HL severity and dementia prevalence [26]. Our results are consistent with these findings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Hearing Loss and Dementia: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Kirubalingam¹,

Nguyen²,

Newsted³

et al. 2023

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Hearing loss (HL) is considered a potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia. We aimed to examine the relationship between HL and incident dementia diagnosis in a province-wide population-based cohort study with matched controls. Methods: Administrative healthcare databases were linked to generate a cohort of patients who were aged ≥40 years at their first claimed hearing amplification devices (HAD) between April 2007 and March 2016 through the Assistive Devices Program (ADP) (257,285 with claims and 1,005,010 controls). The main outcome was incident dementia diagnosis, ascertained using validated algorithms. Dementia incidence was compared between cases and controls using Cox regression. Patient, disease, and other risk factors were examined. Results: Dementia incidence rates (per 1,000 person-years) were 19.51 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 19.26–19.77) and 14.15 (95% CI: 14.04–14.26) for the ADP claimants and matched controls, respectively. In adjusted analyses, risk of dementia was higher in ADP claimants compared with controls (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.10 [95% CI: 1.09–1.12, p < 0.001]). Subgroup analyses showed a dose-response gradient, with risk of dementia higher among patients with bilateral HADs (HR: 1.12 [95% CI: 1.10–1.14, p < 0.001]), and an exposure-response gradient, with increasing risk over time from April 2007-March 2010 (HR: 1.03 [95% CI: 1.01–1.06, p = 0.014]), April 2010-March 2013 (HR: 1.12 [95% CI: 1.09–1.15, p < 0.001]), and April 2013-March 2016 (HR: 1.19 [95% CI: 1.16–1.23, p < 0.001]). Conclusion: In this population-based study, adults with HL had an increased risk of being diagnosed with dementia. Given the implications of HL on dementia risk, understanding the effect of hearing interventions merits further investigation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Hearing Loss and Dementia: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Kirubalingam¹,

Nguyen²,

Newsted³

et al. 2023

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Hearing loss has been associated with a wide variety of physical and mental health risks, including social isolation, depression, lower quality of life and a significantly elevated risk of dementia [8,9,10]. On average, individuals wait 9 years from hearing aid candidacy to hearing aid adoption, while earlier adoption may mitigate some of the risks associated with hearing loss [11,12].…”

Section: Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Requirements for Mass Adoption of Assistive Listening Technology by the General Public

Kaufmann¹,

Foroogozar²,

Liss³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Assistive listening systems (ALSs) dramatically increase speech intelligibility and reduce listening effort. It is very likely that essentially everyone, not only individuals with hearing loss, would benefit from the increased signal-to-noise ratio an ALS provides in almost any listening scenario. However, ALSs are rarely used by anyone other than people with severe to profound hearing losses. To date, the reasons for this poor adoption have not been systematically investigated.The authors hypothesize that the reasons for poor adoption of assistive listening technology include (1) an inability to use personally owned receiving devices, (2) a lack of high-fidelity stereo sound, (3) receiving devices not providing an unoccluded listening experience, (4) distortion from alignment delay and (5) a lack of automatic connectivity to an available assistive listening audio signal.We propose solutions to each of these problems in an effort to pave the way for mass adoption of assistive listening technology by the general public.

show abstract

“…Hearing loss has gained public health interest as an important factor affecting healthy aging. It is associated with cognitive decline, impaired physical function, poorer health resource utilization, and dementia . Importantly, evidence suggests that hearing treatment may mitigate these associations and prevent poor health outcomes, spurring federal agency actions and Congressional legislation to address hearing loss in the US .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Use Among US Medicare Beneficiaries Aged 71 Years and Older

et al. 2023

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ImportanceNational prevalence estimates are needed to guide and benchmark initiatives to address hearing loss. However, current estimates are not based on samples that include representation of the oldest old US individuals (ie, aged ≥80 years), who are most at-risk of having hearing loss.ObjectiveTo estimate the prevalence of hearing loss and hearing aid use by age and demographic covariates in a large, nationally representative sample of adults aged 71 years and older.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsIn this cohort study, prevalence estimates of hearing loss by age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, and income were computed using data from the 2021 National Health Aging and Trends Study. Survey weights were applied to produce nationally representative estimates to the US older population. Data were collected from June to November 2021 and were analyzed from November to December 2022.Main Outcomes and MeasuresCriterion-standard audiometric measures of hearing loss and self-reported hearing aid use.ResultsIn this nationally representative sample of 2803 participants (weighted estimate, 33.1 million individuals) aged 71 years or older, 38.3% (95% CI, 35.5%-41.1%) were aged 71 to 74 years, 36.0% (95% CI, 33.1%-38.8%) were aged 75 to 79 years, 13.8% (95% CI, 12.6%-14.9%) were aged 80 to 84 years, 7.9% (95% CI, 7.2%-8.6%) were aged 85 to 89 years, and 4.0% (95% CI, 3.5%-4.6%) were aged 90 years or older; 53.5% (95% CI, 50.9%-56.1%) were female and 46.5% (95% CI, 43.9%-49.1%) were male; and 7.5% (95% CI, 6.2%-8.7%) were Black, 6.5% (95% CI, 4.4%-8.7%) were Hispanic, and 82.7% (95% CI, 79.7%-85.6%) were White. An estimated 65.3% of adults 71 years and older (weighted estimate, 21.5 million individuals) had at least some degree of hearing loss (mild, 37.0% [95% CI, 34.7%-39.4%]; moderate, 24.1% [95% CI, 21.9%-26.4%]; and severe, 4.2% [95% CI, 3.3%-5.3%]). The prevalence was higher among White, male, lower-income, and lower education attainment subpopulations and increased with age, such that 96.2% (95% CI, 93.9%-98.6%) of adults aged 90 years and older had hearing loss. Among those with hearing loss, only 29.2% (weighted estimate, 6.4 million individuals) used hearing aids, with lower estimates among Black and Hispanic individuals and low-income individuals.Conclusions and RelevanceThese findings suggest that bilateral hearing loss is nearly ubiquitous among older US individuals, prevalence and severity increase with age, and hearing aid use is low. Deeper consideration of discrete severity measures of hearing loss in this population, rather than binary hearing loss terminology, is warranted.

show abstract

Hearing Loss and Dementia Prevalence in Older Adults in the US

Abstract: This study assesses the association of audiometric hearing loss and hearing aid use with dementia among community-dwelling older US Medicare beneficiaries.

Cited by 59 publications

References 9 publications

Hearing Loss and Dementia: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Hearing Loss and Dementia: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Requirements for Mass Adoption of Assistive Listening Technology by the General Public

Prevalence of Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Use Among US Medicare Beneficiaries Aged 71 Years and Older

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About