LOS ANGELES — Impaired vision or hearing loss increases the risk for dementia in older adults. The risk is particularly pronounced in individuals with both types of sensory impairment, new research shows.
"Sensory impairments are fairly common in older adults and can serve as a potential marker to help identify patients who may be at high risk for developing dementia," Phillip Hwang, MPH, a doctoral student in epidemiology at the University of Washington, Seattle, noted in an interview with Medscape Medical News.
The research was presented here at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2019.
All-Cause Dementia
Hwang and colleagues examined the association between hearing and vision impairment and risk for Alzheimer disease (AD) or other dementia in 2150 adults in the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) study. At the time of study enrollment, the participants were aged 75 years or older and were free of dementia.
Sensory impairment was determined at baseline using self-reported responses to questions on vision and hearing. Altogether, 1480 participants (72%) had no sensory impairment, 306 (14.9%) had visual impairment, 161 (7.8%) had hearing impairment, and 104 (5.1%) had both visual and hearing impairment. During 7 years of follow-up, 319 participants were diagnosed with dementia, and 219 were diagnosed with AD dementia.
