Scientists from the University of Toronto found hearing impairment and vision impairment to be strongly associated with cognitive impairment in older people.
They found older adults with hearing impairment had more than double the odds of cognitive impairment, while those with vision impairment had more than triple the odds of cognitive impairment.
When an older adult experienced both hearing impairment and vision impairment, the odds of cognitive impairment were eight-fold.
Approximately one-half of adults aged 65 and older with both hearing and vision impairment also had cognitive impairment.
The research is published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Reports and was conducted by Esme Fuller-Thomson et al.
There have been several studies in the past decade linking hearing loss to dementia and cognitive decline, but less attention has been paid to vision loss and dual sensory impairment.
In the study, the team used data from 10 consecutive waves of the American Community Survey (2008-2017), a nationally representative annual survey of approximately half a million American respondents aged 65 and older.
A total of 5.4 million older Americans were included in the study, including both institutionalized and community-dwelling older adults.
The team says dual sensory impairment prevents an individual from compensating for the loss of one sense through the use of another.
These findings emphasize the need to reach out to older adults with dual sensory impairment, to assess whether there are opportunities for early intervention.
The authors emphasize the importance of considering treatment options for sensory impairment to support the cognitive health of older adults.
Several possible theories may explain the association between sensory impairment and cognitive impairment.
These include cognitive deterioration due to decreased auditory and visual input, social disengagement and loneliness due to problems communicating, and age-related degeneration of the central nervous system.
If you care about cognitive health, please read studies about healthier heart linked to better cognitive functions, and commonly used mental drugs may harm cognitive functions.
For more information about cognitive health, please see recent studies about exercise that can benefit cognitive function in older people, and results showing more wine and cheese in diet may help reduce cognitive decline.
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