An American study has documented a high prevalence of audiometric hearing loss but limited use of hearing aids in older people with dementia.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland found that nearly 80% of people with dementia had hearing loss but only 22% wore hearing aids.
They analysed data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study. The cross-sectional analysis of 2,613 people aged 71 years or older included participants who had complete audiometric data and a dementia classification.
The researchers estimated an overall prevalence of dementia of 9.7%.
“We found that the prevalence of clinically significant hearing loss was high among people living with dementia (PLWD) (79.4%), with the highest prevalence among the oldest individuals (94.2% among individuals aged ≥85 years),” they said.
“While we found audiometric hearing loss to be highly prevalent among PLWD, hearing aid use was low at 21.7%.”
Prevalence of dementia was greater among women but prevalence of hearing loss greater in men, the researchers reported in JAMA Network Open on 21 October 2024.
They said estimates of audiometric hearing loss prevalence among people with dementia were lacking and as both were public health priorities that demanded a public health–driven approach, rigorous understanding of the prevalence and population estimates of people with both conditions were needed.
“As hearing loss is increasingly recognised as a potentially modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline and incident dementia, hearing care represents a potential form of primary prevention,” they said. “However, we must also consider the role of hearing in the tertiary prevention of the sequela of dementia.
“Our findings suggest that hearing loss is highly prevalent among PLWD yet frequently unaddressed.
“Hearing loss may represent one of the most common comorbidities of dementia and must be included in consideration of the health and well-being of PLWD.
“With a growing understanding of the importance of sensory health within aging and cognitive health, the unmet hearing care needs of persons living with concurrent dementia and hearing loss is a public health priority.”
Authors included Dr Carrie Nieman from the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and audiologist Dr Nicholas Reed from the Johns Hopkins Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health.
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