@article {13165, title = {Trajectories of self-reported hearing and their associations with cognition: evidence from the United Kingdom and United States of America.}, journal = {Age Ageing}, volume = {52}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Feb 01}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the relationships between trajectories of change in self-reported hearing over eight years with subsequent effects on cognition, measured using episodic memory.

METHODS: Data were drawn from 5 waves (2008-2016) of the English Longitudinal Study of England (ELSA) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), involving 4,875 individuals aged 50+ at the baseline in ELSA and 6,365 in HRS. The latent growth curve modelling was used to identify trajectories of hearing over eight years, and linear regression models were performed to investigate the relationship between hearing trajectory memberships and episodic memory scores, controlling for confounding factors.

RESULTS: Five trajectories of hearing (stable very good, stable fair, poor to fair/good, good to fair, and very good to good) were retained in each study. Individuals whose hearing remains suboptimal and those whose hearing deteriorates within suboptimal levels throughout eight years have significantly poorer episodic memory scores at follow-up than those with stable very good hearing. Conversely, individuals whose hearing declines but is within an optimal category at baseline do not see significantly poorer episodic memory scores than those with consistently optimal hearing. There was no significant relationship between individuals whose hearing improved from suboptimal baseline levels to optimal by follow-up and memory in ELSA. However, analysis using HRS data shows a significant improvement for this trajectory group (-1.260, P~< 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Either stable fair or deterioration in hearing is associated with worse cognitive function, both stable good or improving hearing is associated with better cognitive function specifically episodic memory.

}, keywords = {Cognition, hearing, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Memory, Episodic, Self Report, United Kingdom, United States}, issn = {1468-2834}, doi = {10.1093/ageing/afad017}, author = {Matthews, Katey and Dawes, Piers and Elliot, Rebecca and Pendleton, Neil and Tampubolon, Gindo and Maharani, Asri} } @article {10050, title = {Associations between self-reported sensory impairment and risk of cognitive decline and impairment in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) cohort.}, journal = {Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences \& Social Sciences}, volume = {75}, year = {2020}, type = {Journal}, chapter = {1230-1242}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine whether self-assessed single (hearing or visual) and dual sensory (hearing and visual) impairments are associated with cognitive decline and incident possible Cognitive Impairment, No Dementia (CIND) and probable dementia.

METHOD: Data were drawn from the 1996-2014 surveys of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), involving 19,618 respondents who had no probable dementia and who were aged 50 years or older at the baseline. We used linear mixed models to test the association between self-assessed sensory impairment and cognitive decline followed by a Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the relative risk of incident possible CIND and probable dementia associated with the presence of sensory impairment.

RESULTS: Respondents with self-assessed single and dual sensory impairment performed worse in cognitive tests than those without sensory impairment. The fully adjusted incidence of developing possible CIND was 17\% higher for respondents with hearing impairment than those without hearing impairment. Respondents with visual impairment had 35\% and 25\% higher risk for developing possible CIND and probable dementia, respectively, than those without visual impairment. Respondents with dual sensory impairment at baseline were 38\% and 26\% more likely to develop possible CIND and probable dementia, respectively, than those with no sensory impairment.

DISCUSSION: Self-assessed sensory impairment is independently associated with cognitive decline and incident possible CIND and probable dementia. Further studies are needed to identify the mechanism underlying this association and to determine whether treatment of sensory impairment could ameliorate cognitive decline and delay the onset of dementia among older adults.

}, keywords = {Cognition \& Reasoning, Hearing loss, Risk Factors, Self Report}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbz043}, author = {Maharani, Asri and Dawes, Piers and James Nazroo and Tampubolon, Gindo and Pendleton, Neil} } @article {9741, title = {Longitudinal Relationship Between Hearing Aid Use and Cognitive Function in Older Americans}, journal = {Journal of the American Geriatrics Society}, volume = {66}, year = {2018}, pages = {1130-1136}, abstract = {Objectives: To test whether hearing aid use alters cognitive trajectories in older adults. Design: US population-based longitudinal cohort study Setting: Data were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which measured cognitive performance repeatedly every 2 years over 18 years (1996-2014). Participants: Adults aged 50 and older who who took part in a minimum of 3 waves of the HRS and used hearing aids for the first time between Waves 4 and 11 (N=2,040). Measurements: Cognitive outcomes were based on episodic memory scores determined according to the sum of immediate and delayed recall of 10 words. Results: Hearing aid use was positively associated with episodic memory scores (β=1.53, p<.001). Decline in episodic memory scores was slower after (β=-0.02, p<.001) than before using hearing aids (β=-0.1, p<.001). These results were robust to adjustment for multiple confounders and to attrition, as accounted for using a joint model. Conclusions: Hearing aids may have a mitigating effect on trajectories of cognitive decline in later life. Providing hearing aids or other rehabilitative services for hearing impairment much earlier in the course of hearing impairment may stem the worldwide rise of dementia.}, keywords = {Cognitive Ability, Hearing aids, Hearing loss, Longitudinal data}, doi = {10.1111/jgs.15363}, url = {http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/jgs.15363http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/jgs.15363/fullpdfhttps://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111\%2Fjgs.15363}, author = {Maharani, Asri and Dawes, Piers and James Nazroo and Tampubolon, Gindo and Pendleton, Neil} } @article {9583, title = {Visual and hearing impairments are associated with cognitive decline in older people.}, journal = {Age and Ageing}, volume = {47}, year = {2018}, pages = {575-581}, abstract = {

Introduction: highly prevalagent hearing and vision sensory impairments among older people may contribute to the risk of cognitive decline and pathological impairments including dementia. This study aims to determine whether single and dual sensory impairment (hearing and/or vision) are independently associated with cognitive decline among older adults and to describe cognitive trajectories according to their impairment pattern.

Material and methods: we used data from totals of 13,123, 11,417 and 21,265 respondents aged 50+ at baseline from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), respectively. We performed growth curve analysis to identify cognitive trajectories, and a joint model was used to deal with attrition problems in longitudinal ageing surveys.

Results: respondents with a single sensory impairment had lower episodic memory score than those without sensory impairment in HRS (β = -0.15, P < 0.001), ELSA (β= -0.14, P< 0.001) and SHARE (β= -0.26, P < 0.001). The analysis further shows that older adults with dual sensory impairment in HRS (β= -0.25, P < 0.001), ELSA (β= -0.35, P< 0.001) and SHARE (β= -0.68, P < 0.001) remembered fewer words compared with those with no sensory impairment. The stronger associations between sensory impairment and lower episodic memory levels were found in the joint model which accounted for attrition.

Conclusions: hearing and/or vision impairments are a marker for the risk of cognitive decline that could inform preventative interventions to maximise cognitive health and longevity. Further studies are needed to investigate how sensory markers could inform strategies to improve cognitive ageing.

}, keywords = {Cognitive Ability, Cross-National, GWAS, Hearing loss, Visual function}, issn = {1468-2834}, doi = {10.1093/ageing/afy061}, author = {Maharani, Asri and Dawes, Piers and James Nazroo and Tampubolon, Gindo and Pendleton, Neil} }