Combined Vision and Hearing Impairment is Associated with Frailty in Older Adults: Results from the West China Health and Aging Trend Study

Abstract

Objective

Hearing and vision loss have been independently associated with frailty in older adults, but the relationship between concurrent hearing and visual impairment (dual sensory impairment) and frailty is not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to examine whether dual sensory impairment is associated with frailty in older adults.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was based on the data from the West China Health and Aging Trend (WCHAT) study of community-dwelling individuals aged 60 years and older. Frailty status was evaluated by the FRAIL scale and categorized as robust, prefrail and frail. Hearing and vision functions were based on self-report. We used multinomial regression models to explore the association between dual sensory impairment and frailty.

Results

Of 3985 participants, 1655 (41.5%) were male and the median age was 66 years (interquartile range: 61–68). Overall, 7.6% of participants reported hearing impairment only, 32.7% reported vision impairment only, and 28.6% reported dual sensory impairment. The prevalence of prefrailty and frailty was 60.7% and 6.1%, respectively. After adjustment for confounding variables, results from the multinomial regression analysis showed that dual sensory impairment was significantly associated with greater odds of becoming frail (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.40–3.38) compared with no impairment. When stratified by gender, dual sensory impairment was significantly associated with frailty in women (OR = 2.42, 95% CI = 1.40–4.20) but not in men (OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 0.58–2.91).

Conclusion

Older adults with dual sensory impairment are more likely to be frail than those with no impairment, suggesting that interventions to improve sensory function may potentially help reduce the risk of frailty in older adults.

Keywords:

• frailty
• sensory impairment
• vision impairment
• hearing impairment

Abbreviations

ADL, activities of daily living; SPMSQ, Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire; GDS-15, 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale; MNA-SF, short form of the Mini Nutritional Assessment.

Data Sharing Statement

There are no linked research data sets for this paper. The data are confidential, and the authors do not have permission to share the data.

Ethical Approval and Informed Consent

This study was performed according to the Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the Ethics Committee of West China Hospital, Sichuan University (reference: 2017-445). Each participant provided written informed consent. In participants with cognitive impairment, written informed consent was also obtained from a valid surrogate.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff of the Department of Geriatrics Medicine, West China Hospital and all participants for their great contribution.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Chinese National Science and Technology Pillar Program (2020YFC2005600); Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2021YFS0136); 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (ZYJC21005); 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence–Clinical Research Incubation Project, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (19HXFH012); National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (Z20191003).