Examining the Combined Estimated Effects of Hearing Loss and Depressive Symptoms on Risk of Cognitive Decline and Incident Dementia

Danielle S Powell, Willa D Brenowitz, Kristine Yaffe, Nicole M Armstrong, Nicholas S Reed, Frank R Lin, Alden L Gross and Jennifer A Deal

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2022, vol. 77, issue 5, 839-849

Abstract: ObjectivesLate-life depression is a comorbidity that may co-occur in older adults with hearing loss—each has prevalent and independent modifiable risk factors for dementia.MethodsUsing data from 1,820 Health, Aging and Body Composition study participants (74 ± 2.8 years, 38% Black race), we compared the hearing loss–dementia/cognitive decline relationship between those with normal hearing/mild hearing loss and those with moderate or greater hearing loss. Using linear mixed-effects and Cox proportional hazard models, we investigated if the associations between hearing loss and cognitive decline or dementia (Modified Mini-Mental State [3MS] Examination and Digit Symbol Substitution Test [DSST]) differed by the presence or absence of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were defined as Center for Epidemiologic Study—Depression scale 10 ≥10 at one or more visits from Years 1–5. Algorithmic incident dementia was defined using medication use, hospitalizations, and cognitive test scores. Audiometric hearing loss was measured at Year 5 and categorized as normal/mild versus moderate or greater hearing loss.ResultsHaving both hearing loss and depressive symptoms (vs. having neither) was associated with faster rates of decline in 3MS Examination (β = −0.30; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.78, −0.19) and DSST (β = −0.35; 95% CI: −0.67, −0.03) over 10 years of follow-up. Having both hearing loss and depressive symptoms (vs. neither) was associated with increased risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.91; 95% CI: 1.59, 5.33 vs. HR: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.10, 2.15 hearing loss only and HR: 2.35; 95% CI: 1.56, 3.53 depressive symptoms only) of incident dementia in multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models.DiscussionComorbid conditions among hearing-impaired older adults should be considered and may aid in dementia prevention and management strategies.

Keywords: Cognition; Depression; Hearing loss; Mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbab194 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:77:y:2022:i:5:p:839-849.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().