On 7 July, Dr. Philip Hwang and colleagues published an article in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring, indicating that people with hearing and visual impairments may be at higher risk of developing dementia. Similar to dementia, the incidence of sensory impairments such as hearing loss and poor eyesight increases with age, with a 2004 EU cross-sectional study showing that over 13% of participants aged over 50 experienced hearing difficulties. The same study found that almost 6% of the 27,536 people analysed had dual sensory impairments (both hearing loss and poor eyesight), rising to 15% of individuals aged over 80 years in a US community-based study.
To assess whether there is an association between late-life hearing and visual impairments and dementia, Dr. Hwang and colleagues analysed data from the Gingko Evaluation of Memory (GEM) study, a randomised-controlled trial aiming to determine the efficacy ofginkgo bilobain the prevention of dementia. The GEM study enrolled over 3000 healthy participants aged 75 years and over, following them up every 6 months for a period of 6-8 years. Throughout the study, participants self-reported whether they had any hearing or visual impairments; 15.6% of participants developed dementia during the course of the study. Analysing data from 2051 GEM participants, the researchers found that having both visual and hearing impairment was associated with an 86% higher risk of developing dementia and 112% increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Visual impairment alone was also associated with an increased risk of dementia (32%). However, further studies are required to establish whether there is a causal relationship between sensory impairment and dementia.
https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/dad2.12054
