TY - JOUR
T1 - Association of Hearing Impairment with Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults
AU - Kamil, Rebecca J.
AU - Betz, Joshua
AU - Powers, Becky Brott
AU - Pratt, Sheila
AU - Kritchevsky, Stephen
AU - Ayonayon, Hilsa N.
AU - Harris, Tammy B.
AU - Helzner, Elizabeth
AU - Deal, Jennifer A.
AU - Martin, Kathryn
AU - Peterson, Matthew
AU - Satterfield, Suzanne
AU - Simonsick, Eleanor M.
AU - Lin, Frank R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by National Institute on Aging (NIA) Contracts N01-AG-6-2101, N01-AG-6-2103, N01-AG-6-2106; NIA Grant R01-AG028050; and NINR Grant R01-NR012459. This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute on Aging. Frank Lin is supported by the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders K23DC011279 Grant, Triological Society and American College of Surgeons Clinician Scientist Award, and Eleanor Schwartz Charitable Foundation. Rebecca Kamils coursework at Bloomberg School of Public Health is supported by the Oticon Foundation. Sheila Pratt and Becky Brott Powers were supported by the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center in the Veterans Administration Pittsburgh Healthcare System during the development of this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© SAGE Publications.
PY - 2016/6
Y1 - 2016/6
N2 - Objective: We aimed to determine whether hearing impairment (HI) in older adults is associated with the development of frailty and falls. Method: Longitudinal analysis of observational data from the Health, Aging and Body Composition study of 2,000 participants aged 70 to 79 was conducted. Hearing was defined by the pure-tone-average of hearing thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz in the better hearing ear. Frailty was defined as a gait speed of <0.60 m/s and/or inability to rise from a chair without using arms. Falls were assessed annually by self-report. Results: Older adults with moderate-or-greater HI had a 63% increased risk of developing frailty (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.26, 2.12]) compared with normal-hearing individuals. Moderate-or-greater HI was significantly associated with a greater annual percent increase in odds of falling over time (9.7%, 95% CI = [7.0, 12.4] compared with normal hearing, 4.4%, 95% CI = [2.6, 6.2]). Discussion: HI is independently associated with the risk of frailty in older adults and with greater odds of falling over time.
AB - Objective: We aimed to determine whether hearing impairment (HI) in older adults is associated with the development of frailty and falls. Method: Longitudinal analysis of observational data from the Health, Aging and Body Composition study of 2,000 participants aged 70 to 79 was conducted. Hearing was defined by the pure-tone-average of hearing thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz in the better hearing ear. Frailty was defined as a gait speed of <0.60 m/s and/or inability to rise from a chair without using arms. Falls were assessed annually by self-report. Results: Older adults with moderate-or-greater HI had a 63% increased risk of developing frailty (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.26, 2.12]) compared with normal-hearing individuals. Moderate-or-greater HI was significantly associated with a greater annual percent increase in odds of falling over time (9.7%, 95% CI = [7.0, 12.4] compared with normal hearing, 4.4%, 95% CI = [2.6, 6.2]). Discussion: HI is independently associated with the risk of frailty in older adults and with greater odds of falling over time.
KW - Health ABC
KW - falls
KW - frailty
KW - hearing impairment
KW - older adults
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U2 - 10.1177/0898264315608730
DO - 10.1177/0898264315608730
M3 - Article
C2 - 26438083
AN - SCOPUS:84967155371
SN - 0898-2643
VL - 28
SP - 644
EP - 660
JO - Journal of Aging and Health
JF - Journal of Aging and Health
IS - 4
ER -