title: Association Between Hearing Impairment and Risk of Hospitalization in Older Adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the association between hearing impairment (HI) and risk and duration of hospitalization in community-dwelling older adults in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective observational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health, Aging and Body Composition Study.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.|Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Dane J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7925-012X
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Genther
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.|Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Betz
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.|Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland.|Epidemiology Group, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
authors.forename: Kathryn R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Tamara B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Health Science Center, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satterfield
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Douglas C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.|Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Anne B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.|Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Eleanor M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Simonsick
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.|Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.|Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.|Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.|Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Frank R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: epidemiology; hearing impairment; hospitalization; older adults