Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney, Australia.
Age Ageing. 2010 Jul;39(4):458-64. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afq051. Epub 2010 Jun 1.
the aim of this study is to estimate the cross-sectional and longitudinal impact of hearing loss on use of community support services and reliance on non-spouse family/friends among older people.
Blue Mountains Hearing Study participants (n = 2,956) were assessed for hearing impairment by audiologists in sound-treated booths. Participants were classified as hearing impaired if PTA(0.5-4)( )(kHz) >25 dB HL. Use of services and non-spouse family/friend support was assessed cross-sectionally. Incident use was assessed among survivors at the 5-year follow-up (n = 1,457).
a significant cross-sectional association between hearing loss (>25 dB HL) and use of community support services was observed after adjusting for age, sex, living status, self-rated poor health, self-reported hospital admissions, disability in walking and best-corrected visual impairment [odds ratio (OR) 2.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-3.90]. Participants with hearing loss who never used a hearing aid were twice as likely to use formal supports as participants without hearing loss (multivariate-adjusted OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.19-4.24). Hearing loss increased the incident need for non-spouse family/friend support or community services (multivariate-adjusted OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.02-2.18).
after adjusting for confounding factors, hearing impairment negatively impacted on the independence of older persons by increasing reliance on community or family support.
本研究旨在评估听力损失对老年人社区支持服务的使用和对非配偶家庭/朋友依赖的横断面和纵向影响。
在隔音 booth 中，听力学家对蓝山听力研究参与者（n = 2956）进行听力障碍评估。如果平均听阈（0.5-4）（）（kHz）> 25 dB HL，则将参与者归类为听力障碍。通过横断面评估服务和非配偶家庭/朋友的支持情况。在 5 年随访中（n = 1457），评估了幸存者中的新发使用情况。
调整年龄、性别、居住状况、自我报告的健康状况不佳、自我报告的住院、行走障碍和最佳矫正视力后，发现听力损失（> 25 dB HL）与社区支持服务的使用之间存在显著的横断面关联[比值比（OR）2.12，95%置信区间（CI）1.15-3.90]。从未使用过助听器的听力损失参与者使用正式支持的可能性是没有听力损失的参与者的两倍（多变量调整后的 OR 2.25，95%CI 1.19-4.24）。听力损失增加了对非配偶家庭/朋友支持或社区服务的新发需求（多变量调整后的 OR 1.49，95%CI 1.02-2.18）。
在调整混杂因素后，听力障碍通过增加对社区或家庭支持的依赖，对老年人的独立性产生负面影响。
