Association Between Hearing Impairment and Risk of Hospitalization in Older Adults. Issue 6 (June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Genther, Dane J.; Betz, Joshua; Pratt, Sheila; Martin, Kathryn R.; Harris, Tamara B.; Satterfield, Suzanne; Bauer, Douglas C.; Newman, Anne B.; Simonsick, Eleanor M.; Lin, Frank R.; the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study
• Is Part Of: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Volume 63:Issue 6(2015:Jun.)
• Page Start: 1146
• Page End: 1152
• Publication Date: 2015-06
• Subjects: Geriatrics -- Periodicals; 618.97
• DOI: 10.1111/jgs.13456
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-8614

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="jgs13456-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="jgs13456-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objectives</title> <p>To determine the association between hearing impairment (HI) and risk and duration of hospitalization in community‐dwelling older adults in the United States.</p> </sec> <sec id="jgs13456-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Design</title> <p>Prospective observational study.</p> </sec> <sec id="jgs13456-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Setting</title> <p>Health, Aging and Body Composition Study.</p> </sec> <sec id="jgs13456-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Participants</title> <p>Well‐functioning community‐dwelling white and black Medicare beneficiaries aged 70 to 79 at study enrollment in 1997–98 were followed for a median of 12 years.</p> </sec> <sec id="jgs13456-sec-0005" sec-type="section"> <title>Measurements</title> <p>Incidence, annual rate, and duration of hospitalization were the primary outcomes. Hearing was defined as the pure‐tone average (PTA) of hearing thresholds in decibels re: hearing level (dB HL) at octave frequencies from 0.5 to 4.0 kHz. Mild HI was defined as a PTA from 25 to 40 dB HL, and moderate or greater HI was defined as a PTA greater than 40 dB HL.</p> </sec> <sec id="jgs13456-sec-0006" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Of the 2, 148 participants included in the analysis, 1, 801 (83.5%) experienced one or more hospitalizations, with 7, 007 adjudicated hospitalization events occurring during the study period. Eight hundred eighty‐two (41.1%) participants had normal hearing, 818 (38.1%) had mild HI, and 448 (20.9%) had moderate or greater HI. After adjusting for demographic characteristics and cardiovascular comorbidities, persons with mild HI experienced a 16% (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.04–1.29) greater risk of incident hospitalization and a 17% (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.04–1.32) greater annual rate of hospitalization, and those with moderate or greater HI experienced a 21% (HR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.06–1.38) greater risk of incident hospitalization and a 19% (IRR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.04–1.38) greater annual rate of hospitalization than persons with normal hearing. There was no significant association between HI and mean duration of hospitalization.</p> </sec> <sec id="jgs13456-sec-0007" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusion</title> <p>Hearing‐impaired older adults experience a greater incidence and annual rate of hospitalization than those with normal hearing. Investigating whether rehabilitative therapies could affect the risk of hospitalization in older adults requires further study.</p> </sec> </abstract>