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Importance: Hearing loss appears to have adverse effects on cognition and increases risk for cognitive impairment. These associations have not been thoroughly investigated in the Hispanic and Latino population, which faces hearing health disparities., Objective: To examine associations between hearing loss with 7-year cognitive change and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) prevalence among a diverse cohort of Hispanic/Latino adults., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used data from a large community health survey of Hispanic Latino adults in 4 major US cities. Eligible participants were aged 50 years or older at their second visit to study field centers. Cognitive data were collected at visit 1 and visit 2, an average of 7 years later. Data were last analyzed between September 2023 and January 2024., Exposure: Hearing loss at visit 1 was defined as a pure-tone average (500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz) greater than 25 dB hearing loss in the better ear., Main Outcomes and Measures: Cognitive data were collected at visit 1 and visit 2, an average of 7 years later and included measures of episodic learning and memory (the Brief-Spanish English Verbal Learning Test Sum of Trials and Delayed Recall), verbal fluency (word fluency-phonemic fluency), executive functioning (Trails Making Test-Trail B), and processing speed (Digit-Symbol Substitution, Trails Making Test-Trail A). MCI at visit 2 was defined using the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer Association criteria., Results: A total of 6113 Hispanic Latino adults were included (mean [SD] age, 56.4 [8.1] years; 3919 women [64.1%]). Hearing loss at visit 1 was associated with worse cognitive performance at 7-year follow-up (global cognition: β = -0.11 [95% CI, -0.18 to -0.05]), equivalent to 4.6 years of aging and greater adverse change (slowing) in processing speed (β = -0.12 [95% CI, -0.23 to -0.003]) equivalent to 5.4 years of cognitive change due to aging. There were no associations with MCI., Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this cohort study suggest that hearing loss decreases cognitive performance and increases rate of adverse change in processing speed. These findings underscore the need to prevent, assess, and treat hearing loss in the Hispanic and Latino community.

Importance: Both cardiovascular disease risk and hearing impairment are associated with cognitive dysfunction. However, the combined influence of the 2 risk factors on cognition is not well characterized., Objective: To examine associations between hearing impairment, cardiovascular disease risk, and cognitive function., Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based, prospective cohort, multisite cross-sectional analysis of baseline data collected between 2008 and 2011 as part of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos included 9623 Hispanic or Latino adults aged 45 to 74 years in New York, Chicago, Miami, and San Diego., Exposures: Hearing impairment of at least mild severity was defined as the pure tone average of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz greater than 25 dB hearing level (dB HL) in the better ear. Our measure of cardiovascular disease risk was a latent class variable derived from body mass index, ankle-brachial index, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose, and the Framingham Cardiovascular Risk score., Main Outcomes and Measures: Results on Brief-Spanish English Verbal Learning Test (episodic learning and memory), and Word Fluency (verbal fluency), and Digit Symbol Subtest (processing speed/executive functioning), and a cognitive composite of the mentioned tests (overall cognition)., Results: Participants (N = 9180) were 54.4% female and age 56.5 years on average. Hearing impairment was associated with poorer performance on all cognitive measures (global cognition: unstandardized β, -0.11; 95% CI, -0.16 to 0.07). Cardiovascular grouping (healthy, typical, high cardiovascular disease risk, and hyperglycemia) did not attenuate the associations between hearing impairment and cognition (global cognition: unstandardized β, -0.11; 95% CI, -0.15 to -0.06). However, cardiovascular grouping interacted with hearing impairment such that hyperglycemia in the context of hearing impairment exacerbated poor performance on learning and memory tasks (F3 = 3.70 and F3 = 2.92, respectively)., Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this cohort study suggest that hearing impairment increases the likelihood that individuals with excessively high glucose perform poorly on learning and memory tasks. Further research is needed to specify the mechanisms by which cardiovascular disease risk and hearing impairment are collectively associated with cognition.