Around 2.5 billion people will be living with some degree of hearing loss by 2050, according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the case of older people, presbycusis or age-related hearing loss has a negative impact on their functional and emotional abilities, on general health, and also on their cognitive abilities.
In fact, new research led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (United States) reveals that older adults with hearing loss are more likely to develop some form of dementia, although it highlights that treatment of hearing problems in the elderly may reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
The researchers analyzed data from 2,413 people, about half of whom were over the age of 80 and a nationally representative sample, and found that those with more severe presbycusis were more likely to have dementia, although the likelihood it was reduced among those who used hearing aids to solve their hearing loss.
The prevalence of dementia among participants with moderate/severe hearing loss was 61% higher than the prevalence among participants with normal hearing
The results of the study have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and support findings from previous work that hearing loss may be a risk factor for dementia and that its treatment may decrease the risk of dementia.
Treat hearing loss to reduce dementia risk
“This study refines what we have observed about the link between hearing loss and dementia, and builds support for public health action to improve access to hearing care,” said lead author Alison Huang, principal investigator associate at the Department of Epidemiology at the Bloomberg School; and at the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health, also at the Bloomberg School.
Huang and colleagues analyzed a nationally representative data set from the National Aging and Health Trends Study (NHATS) and found a clear association between hearing loss severity and dementia. The prevalence of dementia among participants with moderate/severe hearing loss was 61% higher than the prevalence among participants with normal hearing. Hearing aid use was associated with a 32% lower prevalence of dementia in the 853 participants with moderate/severe hearing loss.
It is not yet clear how hearing loss is related to dementia, and studies conducted to date attribute this to several potential mechanisms, but the authors of the new paper hope to better understand the effect of hearing loss treatment on hearing loss. cognition and dementia from their Aging and Cognitive Health Assessment Study in the Elderly (ACHIEVE), a randomized trial whose three-year results are expected to be released this year.
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