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.
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.