Association of Hearing Impairment and Frailty in Older Adults

Abstract

Objectives:

Frailty is a state characterized by decreased physiologic reserve and weakness that is associated with poor health outcomes. Whether hearing impairment, which is associated with physical and cognitive decline, is associated with frailty, is unknown.

Methods:

We analyzed 2109 individuals 70 years and older in the 1999-2002 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Hearing impairment was measured by self-report (good, little trouble, lot of trouble). Frailty was defined as the presence of at least 3 of the following: 5% unintentional weight loss in the past year and/or body mass index <18.5 kg/m², slow walking speed, weakness, exhaustion, and low physical activity. Logistic regression models were adjusted for demographic characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors, hearing aid use, and health status.

Results:

Among all individuals, self-reported hearing impairment was significantly associated with frailty in fully adjusted models (odds ratio [OR] 1.68 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.00, 2.82]). Analyses stratified by sex demonstrated that this association was observed in women (OR 3.79 [95% CI 1.69, 8.51]) but not men (OR 0.85 [95% CI 0.44, 1.66]).

Conclusions:

In these cross-sectional analyses, self-reported hearing impairment was significantly associated with frailty in women. Further research using objective hearing measures and longitudinal assessment of frailty are needed.