New Study Links Hearing Loss With Dementia in Older Adults

 

Does your doctor and hospital have a protocol to test for hearing loss and maybe remove one of the causes of dementia post stroke? If not, you don't have a functioning stroke doctor or hospital.

• hearing loss (10 posts to February 2013)

 

Your risk of dementia, has your doctor told you of this?

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`    

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018 

The latest here:

New Study Links Hearing Loss With Dementia in Older Adults

Older adults with greater severity of hearing loss were more likely to have dementia, but the likelihood of dementia was lower among hearing aid users compared with non-users, according to a study published in JAMA.

The findings, from a nationally representative sample of more than 2,400 older adults, are consistentAnjali Tiku Owens, MD

with prior studies showing that hearing loss might be a contributing factor to dementia risk over time, and that treating hearing loss may lower dementia risk.

“This study refines what we’ve observed about the link between hearing loss and dementia, and builds support for public health action to improve hearing care access,” said lead author Alison Huang, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.

For the current study, the researchers analysed a nationally representative dataset from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). The NHATS has been ongoing since 2011, and uses a nationwide sample of Medicare beneficiaries aged older than 65 years, with a focus on those aged 90 years and older, as well as Black individuals.

The analysis covered 2,413 individuals, about half of whom were aged 80 years and older and showed a clear association between severity of hearing loss and dementia. Prevalence of dementia among the participants with moderate/severe hearing loss was 61% higher than prevalence among participants who had normal hearing. Hearing aid use was associated with a 32% lower prevalence of dementia in the 853 participants who had moderate/severe hearing loss.

The authors noted that many past studies were limited in that they relied on in-clinic data collection, leaving out vulnerable populations that did not have the means or capacity to get to a clinic. For their study, the researchers collected data from participants through in-home testing and interviews.  

How hearing loss is linked to dementia isn’t yet clear, and studies point to several possible mechanisms. 

The study authors expect to have a fuller picture of the effect of hearing loss treatment on cognition and dementia from their Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) Study. Results from the 3-year randomised trial are expected later this year.

Reference: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2800197

SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health