Hearing Loss Associated with Hospitalization

“Hearing loss (HL) is a chronic condition that affects nearly 2 of every 3 adults aged 70 years or older in the United States.

“Hearing loss (HL) is a chronic condition that affects nearly 2 of every 3 adults aged 70 years or older in the United States. Hearing loss has broader implications for older adults, being independently associated with poorer cognitive and physical functioning. The association of HL with other health economic outcomes, such as health care use, is unstudied,” writes Dane J. Genther, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and colleagues, in a Research Letter in JAMA. 

The authors investigated the association of HL with hospitalization and burden of disease in a nationally representative study of adults 70 years of age or older.

The researchers analyzed combined data from the 2005-2006 and 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), an ongoing epidemiological study designed to assess the health and functional status of the civilian, non-institutionalized U.S. population.

The authors found that compared with individuals with normal hearing, individuals with HL were more likely to have a positive history for cardiovascular risk factors, have a history of hospitalization in the past year (18.7 percent vs. 23.8 percent), and have more hospitalizations (1.27 vs. 1.52). 

“HL was significantly associated with any hospitalization, number of hospitalizations, more than 10 days of self-reported poor physical health, and more than 10 days of self-reported poor mental health,” the researchers write.

Additional research is needed they concluded.

If you play this out logically it makes sense right. If you cannot hear, you can miss all types of instructions, not care for yourself properly and therefore get in trouble.

Have your hearing checked.

Better yet, if you have hearing loss, do not be embarrassed by the prospect of getting hearing aids. Not naming names (my father-in-law) definitely has hearing loss but will not at all entertain getting them. Swallow your pride.