Hearing is a skill that most of us take for granted. However, research suggests that adults should pay attention to changes in their hearing, as hearing loss can lead to dementia later in life.
A 2021 study of more than 80,000 adults aged 60 and older found that people who have difficulty hearing speech in noisy environments were at higher risk of developing dementia. Dementia is a group of conditions characterized by memory loss and difficulties with language and other thinking skills.
But there are positives too. This study adds to the evidence suggesting that hearing loss is not just a symptom of dementia, but may actually be a risk factor for the disease, and suggests that hearing loss may not be just a symptom of dementia, but may actually be a risk factor for the disease, and can help people, their families, or doctors diagnose dementia before it starts to worsen. It may be possible to warn of the onset of
“There is particular interest in hearing loss and whether it increases the risk of dementia.” said Thomas Littlejohns, epidemiologist and study author at the University of Oxford, July 2021.
“Although preliminary, these results suggest that speech-in-noise hearing loss may cause symptoms such as: promising target For dementia prevention. ”
In 2017, hearing loss was listed alongside smoking and physical inactivity. One of the nine major modifiable risk factors for dementia. that landmark lancet The report will be updated soon in 2020 with the following additions: Three more risk factorsthe total is 12. In 2024, lancet Two more were added in the report, bringing the total to 14 new modifiable risk factors.
The keyword there is changeable: These risk factors are elements of our lifestyle and general health that can be improved. If so, our overall health may improve and our chances of worsening health conditions may decrease.
Among them, it is estimated that lancet Of these dementia risk factors, hearing loss may carry the greatest burden, and those who do not address their hearing loss in midlife are more likely to develop dementia, according to the report. Up to 5 times more expensive.
To investigate this, researchers at the University of Oxford who worked on the study used a research database set up to uncover links between genetics, environmental factors and health outcomes across large parts of the UK population. We used the UK Biobank.
Dementia risk was analyzed in more than 82,000 men and women aged 60 and older who did not have dementia and had their hearing evaluated at the start of the study.
Participants were tested for their hearing in noise. This is the ability to hear snippets of audio in a noisy environment. In this case, it recognizes numbers spoken against a white background noise.
Some 11 years later, 1,285 participants were found to have developed dementia, according to their health records.
“Participants with poor hearing had almost twice the risk of developing dementia compared to participants with good hearing.” said Little John’s.
Interestingly, about half of the people studied who had poor speech-in-noise hearing and about 42 percent of those who performed poorly on tests were self-reporting when asked to report. I wasn’t aware of my hearing loss.
The researchers also considered whether people’s hearing loss was actually associated with other factors known to influence dementia risk, such as social isolation and isolation. depressionBoth can occur if you have hearing loss.
“However, we found little evidence that this is the case.” said Little John’s.
Just to be sure, Littlejohns and his colleagues also compared their data to see if people’s hearing abilities were actually affected by latent, undetected dementia, so-called reverse causation.
However, the risk of dementia indicated by hearing loss was no worse when comparing study participants who developed dementia earlier (after 3 years) than later (after 9 years). It remained almost the same.
Although this is not the first study to find a link between hearing loss and dementia, the research team is the first to examine the risk of dementia and people’s hearing in typical noisy environments of our daily lives. He said that it is one of the
Similarly, large-scale, long-term studies Australia and Taiwan We also know that people with hearing loss are at higher risk of developing dementia. However, these studies relied on self-reported data from study participants or medical records indicating hearing loss.
Katie Stubbs, a neuroscientist at research charity Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: ‘Large-scale studies like the UK Biobank are helping to identify genetic, health and lifestyle factors associated with conditions such as dementia. It’s a powerful tool for.” said University of Oxford study. “But it’s always difficult to distinguish cause and effect in this type of research.”
Remember that the best epidemiological studies can do is find associations between environmental factors, health, and disease at the population level.
“It is important to note that this type of study design does not allow for inference of causality.” said Dr. Littlejohns: “But this adds to the existing literature that hearing loss may be a modifiable target for reducing the risk of developing dementia.”
Remember, this study shows that protecting your ears from hearing loss with earmuffs and earplugs, and improving your hearing with hearing aids, may be a potential cause of dementia, which affects millions of people around the world. This suggests that it may help reduce risk factors.
There were too few people using hearing aids in this particular study to reach definitive conclusions yet. clinical trial We’ll need this before we get into the details. However, this is an area of research that may offer hope for understanding and preventing dementia.
This study Alzheimer’s disease and dementia: Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
A version of this article was first published in July 2021.
