title: Prevalence and correlates of hearing and visual impairments in European nursing homes: results from the SHELTER study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Visual and hearing impairments are known to be related to functional disability, cognitive impairment, and depression in community-dwelling older people. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of sensory impairment in nursing home residents, and whether sensory impairment is related to other common clinical problems in nursing homes, mediated by functional disability, cognitive impairment, and depressive symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional data of 4007 nursing home residents in 59 facilities in 8 countries from the SHELTER study were analyzed. Visual and hearing impairments were assessed by trained staff using the interRAI instrument for Long-Term Care Facilities. Generalized linear mixed models adjusted for functional disability, cognitive impairment, and depressive symptoms were used to analyze associations of sensory impairments with prevalence of clinical problems, including behavioral symptoms, incontinence, fatigue, falls, problems with balance, sleep, nutrition, and communication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the participants, 32% had vision or hearing impairment (single impairment) and another 32% had both vision and hearing impairments (dual impairment). Residents with single impairment had significantly higher rates of communication problems, fatigue, balance problems, and sleep problems, as compared with residents without any sensory impairment. Those with dual impairment had significantly higher rates of all clinical problems assessed in this study as compared with those without sensory impairment. For each clinical problem, the magnitude of the odds ratio for specific clinical problems was higher for dual impairment than for single impairment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Visual and hearing impairments are associated with higher rates of common clinical problems among nursing home residents, independent of functional disability, cognitive impairment, and depressive symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic. Electronic address: yukari.yamada@upol.cz.
authors.forename: Yukari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vlachova
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Finne-Soveri
authors.affiliation: Centre for Standards in Health and Disability, Research Authority, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gindin
authors.affiliation: EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Department of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Henriëtte
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van der Roest
authors.affiliation: AGAPLESION Bethesda Clinic, Competence Centre of Geriatrics, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Denkinger
authors.affiliation: Centro Medicina dell'Invecchiamento, Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bernabei
authors.affiliation: Centro Medicina dell'Invecchiamento, Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Graziano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Onder
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Topinkova
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Older people; dual sensory impairment; frailty; nursing home