Hearing Loss Prevalence and Risk Factors Among Older Adults in the United States
TLDR
Hearing loss is prevalent in nearly two thirds of adults aged 70 years and older in the U.S. population and the epidemiological and physiological basis for the protective effect of black race against hearing loss is needed to determine the role of hearing aids in those with a mild hearing loss.Abstract:
Background. Hearing loss has been associated with cognitive and functional decline in older adults and may be amenable to rehabilitative interventions, but national estimates of hearing loss prevalence and hearing aid use in older adults are unavailable. Methods. We analyzed data from the 2005–2006 cycle of the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, which is the first cycle to ever incorporate hearing assessment in adults aged 70 years and older. Audiometry was performed in 717 older adults, and data on hearing aid use, noise exposure, medical history, and demographics were obtained from interviews. Analyses incorporated sampling weights to account for the complex sampling design and yield results that are generalizable to the U.S. population. Results. The prevalence of hearing loss defined as a speech frequency pure tone average of more than 25 dB in the better ear was 63.1% (95% confidence interval: 57.4–68.8). Age, sex, and race were the factors most strongly associated with hearing loss after multivariate adjustment, with black race being substantially protective against hearing loss (odds ratio 0.32 compared with white participants [95% confidence interval : 0.19–0.53]). Hearing aids were used in 40.0% (95% confidence interval: 35.1 –44.8) of adults with moderate hearing loss, but in only 3.4% (95% confidence interval : 0.8–6.0) of those with a mild hearing loss. Conclusion. Hearing loss is prevalent in nearly two thirds of adults aged 70 years and older in the U.S. population. Additional research is needed to determine the epidemiological and physiological basis for the protective effect of black race against hearing loss and to determine the role of hearing aids in those with a mild hearing loss.read more
Citations
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Hearing loss and cognition in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging
TL;DR: Hearing loss is independently associated with lower scores on tests of memory and executive function, and this results were robust to analyses accounting for potential confounders, nonlinear effects of age, and exclusion of individuals with severe hearing loss.
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Current concepts in age-related hearing loss: Epidemiology and mechanistic pathways
TL;DR: A growing body of evidence in animal studies has suggested that cumulative effect of oxidative stress could induce damage to macromolecules such as mitochondrial DNA and that the resulting accumulation of mtDNA mutations/deletions and decline of mitochondrial function play an important role in inducing apoptosis of the cochlear cells, thereby the development of AHL.
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Hearing Loss and Cognition Among Older Adults in the United States
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Association of hearing impairment with brain volume changes in older adults
Frank R. Lin,Luigi Ferrucci,Yang An,Joshua Oon Soo Goh,Jimit Doshi,E. J. Metter,Christos Davatzikos,Michael A. Kraut,Susan M. Resnick +8 more
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