1. Gender-specific associations of speech-frequency hearing loss, high-frequency hearing loss, and cognitive impairment among older community dwellers in China
- Author
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Ying Yu, Xiaohan Zhu, Qi Guo, Hao Hu, Feng Wang, Shumeng Niu, Fandi Xie, Peipei Han, Yuewen Liu, Xing Yu, Hui Zhang, Hongbing Wang, Weibo Ma, and Jingru Wang
- Subjects
Aging ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Multivariate analysis ,Mini–Mental State Examination ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,Hearing loss ,business.industry ,Confounding ,Cognition ,Audiology ,otorhinolaryngologic diseases ,medicine ,Etiology ,Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Cognitive impairment - Abstract
Background and Aims This study aimed atinvestigating the relationship between speech-frequency hearing loss (SFHL), high-frequency hearing loss (HFHL), and cognitive impairment (CI) and then to determine whether there are any differences in gender among older community dwellers in China. Methods 1012 adults aged ≥ 60 years (428 males; average age, 72.61 ± 5.51 years) and living in Chongming District, Shanghai were enrolled in the study. We used the audiometric definition of hearing loss (HL) adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO). Speech-frequencies were measured at 0.5 kHz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, and 4 kHz; high-frequencies were measured at 4 kHz and 8 kHz. Pure tone average (PTA) was measured as hearing sensitivity. Cognitive performance was measured using the mini mental state examination (MMSE). Results Our studies demonstrated a 37.6% prevalence of HL in males and a 36.0% prevalence of HL in females. Adjusted for confounding variables, the results from a multivariate analysis showed that SFHL was associated with CI in females (OR = 2.922, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.666–5.124) and males (OR = 2.559, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.252–5.232). However, HFHL was associated with CI only in females (OR = 3.490, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.834–6.643). HL was associated with poorer cognitive scores (P P Conclusions The associations between HL and CI varied according to gender in older community-dwellers, suggesting that different mechanisms are involved in the etiology of HL. Moreover, hearing sensitivity was negatively associated with cognition scores; therefore, early screening for HL and CI among older community-dwelling adults is advised.
- Published
- 2021