Age-related hearing loss and dementia: a 10-year national population-based study

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2017 May;274(5):2327-2334. doi: 10.1007/s00405-017-4471-5. Epub 2017 Feb 22.

Abstract

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is postulated to affect dementia. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between ARHL and the prevalence, and 10-year incidence of dementia in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). We selected patients diagnosed with ARHL from the NHIRD. A comparison cohort comprising of patients without ARHL was frequency-matched by age, sex, and co-morbidities, and the occurrence of dementia was evaluated in both cohorts. The ARHL cohort consisted of 4108 patients with ARHL and the control cohort consisted of 4013 frequency-matched patients without ARHL. The incidence of dementia [hazard ratio (HR), 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI 1.14-1.49); P = 0.002] was higher among ARHL patients. Cox models showed that being female (HR, 1.34; 95% CI 1.07-1.68), as well as having co-morbidities, including chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, stroke, head injury, chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, alcohol abuse/dependence, and tobacco abuse/dependence (HR, 1.27; 95% CI 1.11-1.45), were independent risk factors for dementia in ARHL patients. We found ARHL may be one of the early characteristics of dementia, and patients with hearing loss were at a higher risk of subsequent dementia. Clinicians should be more sensitive to dementia symptoms within the first 2 years following ARHL diagnosis. Further clinical studies of the relationship between dementia and ARHL may be necessary.

Keywords: Age-related hearing loss; Dementia; NHIRD; Presbycusis; Sensory hearing loss.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Cohort Studies
  • Comorbidity
  • Dementia* / diagnosis
  • Dementia* / epidemiology
  • Diabetes Mellitus / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / epidemiology
  • Incidence
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Presbycusis* / diagnosis
  • Presbycusis* / epidemiology
  • Prevalence
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Risk Factors
  • Taiwan / epidemiology