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Hearing is a skill most of us take for granted. But new research suggests adults should listen to changes in their hearing, as hearing difficulties may be linked to developing dementia at a later age.
In a study of more than 80,000 adults over the age of 60, those who had difficulty hearing speech in noisy environments were at higher risk for dementia, which is an umbrella term for conditions characterized by loss of speech. memory and difficulty with language and other thinking skills.
But there’s a plus, too: The study adds to evidence suggesting that hearing problems may not only be a symptom of dementia, but in fact a risk factor for dementia that could alert individuals, their families, or doctors to its onset before any deterioration begins.
“There has been particular interest in hearing loss and whether it can increase the risk of dementia,” says epidemiologist and study author Thomas Littlejohns of the University of Oxford.
“Although preliminary, these results suggest that hearing loss in speech in noise could represent a promising target for the prevention of dementia. “
In 2017, hearing loss was listed along with smoking and physical inactivity as one of the top nine modifiable risk factors for dementia. This landmark Lancet report was quickly updated in 2020 to include three more risk factors, bringing the total to 12.
The keyword here is editable: these risk factors are parts of our lifestyle and general health that can be improved and, where appropriate, can improve our overall health and reduce the risk of health problems. .
It has been estimated, in these Lancet reports, that of the 12 risk factors for dementia, hearing loss could have the heaviest burden of all – so people with untreated hearing loss in their 40s are up to five times more likely to develop dementia.
To further their research, the University of Oxford researchers behind this study tapped into UK Biobank, a research database created to establish links between genetics, environmental factors and outcomes for the health of a large part of the British population.
The risk of dementia was analyzed for a group of more than 82,000 women and men, aged 60 or over, who did not have dementia and whose hearing was assessed at the start of the study.
Participants were tested on their speech-in-noise hearing, which is the ability to spot snippets of speech in a noisy environment – in this case, to recognize spoken numbers versus white background noise.
After about 11 years, 1,285 participants had developed dementia, according to medical records.
“Participants who had poor hearing had almost double the risk of developing dementia compared to those who had good hearing,” Littlejohns explains.
Interestingly, about half of the people in the study who had poor speech-in-noise hearing, and about 42% of those who scored poorly on the test, did not notice any hearing loss themselves when ‘they were asked to report it.
The researchers also looked at whether people’s hearing impairments were in fact linked to other factors known to influence dementia risk, such as social isolation and depression, both of which could occur if people have problems with dementia. ‘hearing.
“But we found little evidence that this was the case,” says Littlejohns.
Just to be sure, Littlejohns and his colleagues also made comparisons in the data to see if people’s hearing performance may have actually been affected by an underlying, undetected dementia – what’s called reverse causation.
But the risk of dementia indicated by hearing difficulties was not worse when comparing study participants who developed dementia earlier (after 3 years) rather than later (after 9 years); it stayed pretty much the same.
This isn’t the first study to find a link between hearing loss and dementia, but the team says they are among the first to study the risk of dementia and the hearing ability of people in noisy environments, which are more typical of our daily life.
Likewise, long and extensive studies in Australia and Taiwan have also found that people with hearing loss are at greater risk of dementia. However, these studies relied on self-reported data by study participants or medical records indicating hearing loss.
“Large studies like the UK Biobank are powerful tools for identifying genetic, health and lifestyle factors linked to diseases like dementia,” said neuroscientist Katy Stubbs, from Alzheimer’s Research UK, an organization of charity research, about the Oxford University study. “But it’s always difficult to distinguish cause and effect in this type of research.”
Remember that the best epidemiological studies that can be done are to find associations between environmental factors, health and disease, at the population level.
“It’s important to keep in mind that with this type of study design, you can’t infer causation,” Littlejohns explains, “but it adds to the existing literature that hearing loss could be a changeable target. to reduce the risk of developing dementia. “
Let’s also not forget, this research suggests that protecting our ears from hearing damage, with earmuffs and earplugs, and helping people hear better with hearing aids, could potentially help alleviate this factor. of potential risk of dementia, which affects millions of people around the world.
Too few people in this particular study were using hearing aids to reach definitive conclusions yet and clinical trials will be needed before we can say more. But it is a new area of investigation that may offer hope in our understanding and prevention of dementia.
The study was published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
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