Heine Chyrisse, Browning Colette J, Gong Cathy Honge
Department of Community and Clinical Allied Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia.
International Institute for Primary Health Care Research, Shenzhen, China.
Front Public Health. 2019 Jan 24;7:5. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00005. eCollection 2019.
The number of older adults with vision and/or hearing loss is growing world-wide, including in China, whose population is aging rapidly. Sensory loss impacts on older people's ability to participate in their communities and their quality of life. This study investigates the prevalence of vision loss, hearing loss, and dual sensory loss (combined vision and hearing loss) in an older adult Chinese population and describes the relationships between these sensory losses and demographic factors, use of glasses and hearing aids, unmet needs, and impacts on social participation. The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study is a population-based longitudinal survey conducted since 2011. The 2013 dataset for people aged 60 and over was used in this study. Items analyzed included demographic data (age, gender, education, rurality, and SES), self-reported ratings of vision (including legally blind, excellent-poor long, and short distance vision and the use and frequency of wearing glasses), hearing (excellent-poor hearing and the use of hearing aids), dual sensory loss (both poor/fair vision and hearing), and social participation. Of the sample, 80.2% reported poor/fair vision, 64.9% reported poor/fair hearing, and 57.2% had poor/fair vision and hearing. Few respondents (10%) wore glasses regularly and 20.1% wore glasses from time to time. Only 0.8% of respondents wore hearing aids although the proportion with hearing loss was high (64.9%). The proportion of unmet needs for glasses and hearing aids was 54.9 and 63.9%, respectively. Low socio-economic status (SES), poor education, and rurality were significantly associated with the prevalence of poor/fair vision and hearing, the use of glasses and hearing aids and the unmet needs of glasses/hearing aids. Poor/fair vision and/or hearing, and the unmet needs for glasses/hearing aids were significantly and negatively associated with social participation. Sensory loss is a significant health issue for older Chinese people that impacts on their social participation. Training primary care health professionals in identification and rehabilitation approaches is needed as well as increasing the numbers of vision and hearing specialists working in the field. Providing information on sensory loss and the use of aids to older adults will also help improve older adult's quality of life.
在全球范围内，包括中国，视力和/或听力受损的老年人数量正在增加，中国的人口老龄化速度很快。感官功能丧失会影响老年人参与社区活动的能力及其生活质量。本研究调查了中国老年人群中视力丧失、听力丧失和双重感官功能丧失（视力和听力合并丧失）的患病率，并描述了这些感官功能丧失与人口统计学因素、眼镜和助听器的使用、未满足的需求以及对社会参与的影响之间的关系。中国健康与养老追踪调查是一项自2011年以来开展的基于人群的纵向调查。本研究使用了2013年60岁及以上人群的数据集。分析的项目包括人口统计学数据（年龄、性别、教育程度、农村地区和社会经济地位）、自我报告的视力评级（包括法定失明、远距离和近距离视力的优-差情况以及眼镜的使用和佩戴频率）、听力（听力优-差情况以及助听器的使用）、双重感官功能丧失（视力和听力均为差/一般）以及社会参与情况。在样本中，80.2%的人报告视力差/一般，64.9%的人报告听力差/一般，57.2%的人视力和听力均差/一般。很少有受访者（10%）经常佩戴眼镜，20.1%的人偶尔佩戴眼镜。尽管听力损失比例较高（64.9%），但只有0.8%的受访者佩戴助听器。眼镜和助听器未满足需求的比例分别为54.9%和63.9%。低社会经济地位、低教育程度和农村地区与视力和听力差/一般的患病率、眼镜和助听器的使用以及眼镜/助听器未满足的需求显著相关。视力和/或听力差/一般以及眼镜/助听器未满足的需求与社会参与显著负相关。感官功能丧失是中国老年人面临的一个重大健康问题，会影响他们的社会参与。需要对初级保健卫生专业人员进行识别和康复方法方面的培训，同时增加该领域视力和听力专家的数量。向老年人提供有关感官功能丧失和辅助器具使用的信息也将有助于提高老年人的生活质量。
