title: Age-related hearing loss and dementia: a 10-year national population-based study.
abstract: Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is postulated to affect dementia. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between ARHL and the prevalence, and 10-year incidence of dementia in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). We selected patients diagnosed with ARHL from the NHIRD. A comparison cohort comprising of patients without ARHL was frequency-matched by age, sex, and co-morbidities, and the occurrence of dementia was evaluated in both cohorts. The ARHL cohort consisted of 4108 patients with ARHL and the control cohort consisted of 4013 frequency-matched patients without ARHL. The incidence of dementia [hazard ratio (HR), 1.30; 95% confidence interval (CI 1.14-1.49); P = 0.002] was higher among ARHL patients. Cox models showed that being female (HR, 1.34; 95% CI 1.07-1.68), as well as having co-morbidities, including chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, stroke, head injury, chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, alcohol abuse/dependence, and tobacco abuse/dependence (HR, 1.27; 95% CI 1.11-1.45), were independent risk factors for dementia in ARHL patients. We found ARHL may be one of the early characteristics of dementia, and patients with hearing loss were at a higher risk of subsequent dementia. Clinicians should be more sensitive to dementia symptoms within the first 2 years following ARHL diagnosis. Further clinical studies of the relationship between dementia and ARHL may be necessary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Mackay Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.|Department of Family Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Peijen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chih-Chao
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Mackay Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.|Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Mackay Medical Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hung-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei-Shin
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tsung-Lin
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Mackay Medical Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei-Ting
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cheng-Li
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Sciences, Center College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chung-Yi
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China. s76881072@yahoo.com.tw.|Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China. s76881072@yahoo.com.tw.
authors.forename: Kuang-Hsi
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Mackay Medical College, No.46, Sec. 3, Zhongzheng Rd., Sanzhi Dist., New Taipei City, 252, Taiwan, Republic of China. hsuyc@mmc.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Yi-Chao
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Hsu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011304:Presbycusis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Age-related hearing loss; Dementia; NHIRD; Presbycusis; Sensory hearing loss