Hearing loss impacts on the use of community and informal supports.
OBJECTIVE
the aim of this study is to estimate the cross-sectional and longitudinal impact of hearing loss on use of community support services and reliance on non-spouse family/friends among older people.


METHODS
Blue Mountains Hearing Study participants (n = 2,956) were assessed for hearing impairment by audiologists in sound-treated booths. Participants were classified as hearing impaired if PTA(0.5-4)( )(kHz) >25 dB HL. Use of services and non-spouse family/friend support was assessed cross-sectionally. Incident use was assessed among survivors at the 5-year follow-up (n = 1,457).


RESULTS
a significant cross-sectional association between hearing loss (>25 dB HL) and use of community support services was observed after adjusting for age, sex, living status, self-rated poor health, self-reported hospital admissions, disability in walking and best-corrected visual impairment [odds ratio (OR) 2.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-3.90]. Participants with hearing loss who never used a hearing aid were twice as likely to use formal supports as participants without hearing loss (multivariate-adjusted OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.19-4.24). Hearing loss increased the incident need for non-spouse family/friend support or community services (multivariate-adjusted OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.02-2.18).


CONCLUSIONS
after adjusting for confounding factors, hearing impairment negatively impacted on the independence of older persons by increasing reliance on community or family support.
Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney, Australia.
Julie
J
Schneider
Bamini
B
Gopinath
Michael J
MJ
Karpa
Catherine M
CM
McMahon
Elena
E
Rochtchina
Stephen R
SR
Leeder
Paul
P
Mitchell
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data