Quality-of-life changes and hearing impairment. A randomized trial.
OBJECTIVE
To assess whether hearing aids improve the quality of life of elderly persons with hearing loss.


METHODS
Primary care clinics at a Bureau of Veterans Affairs hospital.


METHODS
One hundred and ninety-four elderly veterans who were identified as being hearing impaired from a screening survey involving 771 consecutive clinic patients. Of the original 194, 188 (97%) completed the trial.


METHODS
Subjects were randomly assigned to either receive a hearing aid (n = 95) or join a waiting list (n = 99). MAIN ENDPOINTS: A comprehensive battery of disease-specific and generic quality-of-life measures were administered at baseline, 6 weeks, and 4 months.


RESULTS
Persons assigned to the two groups were similar in age, ethnicity, education, marital status, occupation, and comorbid diseases. At baseline, 82% of subjects reported adverse effects on quality of life due to hearing impairment, and 24% were depressed. At follow-up, a significant change in score improvements for social and emotional function (34.0; 95% CI, 27.3 to 40.8; P less than 0.0001), communication function (24.2; CI, 17.2 to 31.2; P less than 0.0001), cognitive function (0.28; CI, 0.08 to 0.48; P = 0.008), and depression (0.80; CI, 0.09 to 1.51; P = 0.03) was seen in subjects who received hearing aids compared with those assigned to the waiting list. Six drop-outs (three per group), no crossovers, and no significant changes in cointerventions were seen. Average, self-reported, daily aid use in the hearing aid group was 8 hours.


CONCLUSIONS
Hearing loss is associated with important adverse effects on the quality of life of elderly persons, effects which are reversible with hearing aids.
Mulrow
C D
CD
Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital, San Antonio, Texas.
Aguilar
C
C
Endicott
J E
JE
Tuley
M R
MR
Velez
R
R
Charlip
W S
WS
Rhodes
M C
MC
Hill
J A
JA
DeNino
L A
LA
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003142:Communication; D015897:Comorbidity; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic