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Abstract
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Dual sensory (vision and hearing) impairment in patients older than 65 years may be associated with an increased mortality risk.
A 2020 prospective cohort study (n = 37,076) examined the association between sensory impairment and all-cause mortality.1 Patients were 70 years and older, registered in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, and were followed from 1998 to 2019. Patients were assigned to one of four categories, based on a 1-m visual acuity test and a conversational self-report assessment: vision impairment, hearing impairment, dual sensory impairment, or no impairment. The primary outcome was the age at death, which was reported by a family interview. Compared with nonimpaired individuals, there was a higher risk of death in the vision-impaired group (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.2; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.24), the hearing-impaired group (HR = 1.3; 95% CI, 1.2 to 1.3), and the dual sensory–impaired group (HR = 1.5; 95% CI, 1.4 to 1.5). However, the study was limited by the subjective definition of sensory impairment, possible confounding of cognitive impairment (which was not assessed), and subjective reporting for deaths that occurred at home.
Another 2020 prospective cohort study (n = 8,788) also examined the association between sensory impairment and all-cause mortality.2 Patients were 80 years and older, registered in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, and were followed from 1998 to 2014. In all participants, baseline hearing and vision were measured. Patients were classified into four sensory impairment groups based on a semiquantitative visual acuity test and a conversational self-report assessment: no impairment, vision impairment, hearing impairment, and dual sensory impairment. The primary outcome assessed was mortality. Compared with patients who were not sensory impaired, those who had vision impairment (HR = 1.1; 95% CI, 1.0 to 1.2), hearing impairment (HR = 1.42; 95% CI, 1.3 to 1.5), and dual sensory impairment (HR = 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1 to 1.4) had a significantly higher risk of mortality when controlled for socioeconomic variables. The study was limited by survival bias and a lack of direct causality between sensory impairment and mortality ...
Language: en |