The impact of hearing impairment and hearing aid use on progression to mild cognitive impairment in cognitively healthy adults: An observational cohort study.

INTRODUCTION

We assessed the association of self-reported hearing impairment and hearing aid use with cognitive decline and progression to mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

METHODS

We used a large referral-based cohort of 4358 participants obtained from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center. The standard covariate-adjusted Cox proportional hazards model, the marginal structural Cox model with inverse probability weighting, standardized Kaplan-Meier curves, and linear mixed-effects models were applied to test the hypotheses.

RESULTS

Hearing impairment was associated with increased risk of MCI (standardized hazard ratio [HR] 2.58, 95% confidence interval [CI: 1.73 to 3.84], = .004) and an accelerated rate of cognitive decline (.001). Hearing aid users were less likely to develop MCI than hearing-impaired individuals who did not use a hearing aid (HR 0.47, 95% CI [0.29 to 0.74],  = .001). No difference in risk of MCI was observed between individuals with normal hearing and hearing-impaired adults using hearing aids (HR 0.86, 95% CI [0.56 to 1.34],  = .51).

DISCUSSION

Use of hearing aids may help mitigate cognitive decline associated with hearing loss.