Does cognitive impairment precede self-reported poor hearing? Results from the English longitudinal study of ageing

Abstract

Objective

To investigate whether cognitive impairment precedes self-reported poor hearing in adults aged 50 and older over a 14-year period.

Design

Biennial longitudinal study.

Study sample

The data came from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing carried out in England between 2002 and 2016, with 11,391 individuals aged 50 years and older. For this study, ELSA participants who had a positive perception of hearing at the beginning of the analysis in 2002 (n = 8,895) were eligible. The dependent variable was self-reported poor hearing, and the exposure measure was cognitive impairment. The analyses were performed using Generalised Estimation Equations and adjusted for gender, age, educational level, household wealth, smoking, alcohol consumption, depressive symptoms, ADL/IADL disability, physical activity level, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Results

The results showed 33% increased odds of self-reported poor hearing in individuals with cognitive impairment. In the fully adjusted model, individuals who presented cognitive impairment in the previous wave had, over time, 10% increased odds (95% CI: 1.02; 1.19) of presenting self-reported poor hearing.

Conclusions

The exposure to cognitive impairment was associated with a subsequent self-reported poor hearing. These data represent important tools for improving cognitive and hearing impairment diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords:

• Cognitive decline
• cognitive dysfunction
• hearing
• elderly
• hearing loss
• auditory perception

Acknowledgments

The writing and revision process of the final version of the manuscript was carried out at the Scientific Article Writing Workshop in the Graduate Program of Public Health at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, funded by CAPES-PRINT. We thank the professors Marco Aurélio Peres and Eleonora d’Orsi, who facilitated the workshop, and our colleagues’ suggestions. We thank the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) team for granting access to the data.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing is provided by the National Institute of Ageing [grant RO1AG017644] and a consortium of UK government departments coordinated by the Office for National Statistics. AS is supported by the British Heart Foundation. The funders had no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. The developers and funders of ELSA and the Archive do not bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.