Association of Hearing Impairment With Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults. (June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kamil, Rebecca J.; Betz, Joshua; Powers, Becky Brott; Pratt, Sheila; Kritchevsky, Stephen; Ayonayon, Hilsa N.; Harris, Tammy B.; Helzner, Elizabeth; Deal, Jennifer A.; Martin, Kathryn; Peterson, Matthew; Satterfield, Suzanne; Simonsick, Eleanor M.; Lin, Frank R.
• Is Part Of: Journal of aging and health. Volume 28:Number 4(2016:Jun.)
• Page Start: 644
• Page End: 660
• Publication Date: 2016-06
• Subjects: hearing impairment -- frailty -- falls -- older adults -- Health ABC; Older people -- Health and hygiene -- Periodicals; Geriatrics -- Periodicals; 618.97
• DOI: 10.1177/0898264315608730
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0898-2643

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to determine whether hearing impairment (HI) in older adults is associated with the development of frailty and falls.Method: Longitudinal analysis of observational data from the Health, Aging and Body Composition study of 2, 000 participants aged 70 to 79 was conducted. Hearing was defined by the pure-tone-average of hearing thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz in the better hearing ear. Frailty was defined as a gait speed of <0.60 m/s and/or inability to rise from a chair without using arms. Falls were assessed annually by self-report.Results: Older adults with moderate-or-greater HI had a 63% increased risk of developing frailty (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.26, 2.12]) compared with normal-hearing individuals. Moderate-or-greater HI was significantly associated with a greater annual percent increase in odds of falling over time (9.7%, 95% CI = [7.0, 12.4] compared with normal hearing, 4.4%, 95% CI = [2.6, 6.2]).Discussion: HI is independently associated with the risk of frailty in older adults and with greater odds of falling over time.