Hearing Loss Tied With Other Ailments in Elderly

Date: 22 July 2019 - 21:15

News ID: ۶۸۴۲۹

TOKYO (Dispatches) -- Research has examined associations of hearing loss with outdoor activity limitations, psychological distress, and memory loss in people aged 65 and over. All three conditions were significantly worse when there was hearing loss.
A team of Japanese researchers centered at the University of Tsukuba sought to shed further light on the relation of hearing loss and other illnesses among older people. They examined three key areas and found hearing loss had a clear link with all three, especially memory loss.
The team took advantage of the large-scale 2016 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions of Japan, a nationwide, population-based cross-sectional questionnaire of more than 220,000 households. From this, they targeted 137,723 survey respondents aged 65 or older and without dementia. The survey's self-reported responses on conditions including hearing loss allowed valuable comparisons to be made.
About 9% of the 137,723 survey respondents examined had reported hearing loss. Their responses also showed the condition increased with age. The researchers further adjusted and refined their analysis to account for factors such as smoking, alcohol intake, and income. The differences between those with and without hearing loss were quite telling.