Hearing Impairment With Cognitive Decline Increases All-Cause Mortality Risk in Chinese Adults Aged 65 Years or Older: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study.

Background: Hearing impairment (HI), a highly prevalent sensory impairment affecting older adults, is a risk factor for cognitive decline. However, few studies examined the association between HI and all-cause mortality, and the role of different cognitive states on this relationship in Chinese older adults is poorly understood. Methods: A total of 10,744 Chinese older adults aged 65 years or older were included in the 2011/2012 and 2014 cohorts from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), with the longest follow-up period lasting for up to 8 years. The presence of HI was identified by using a dichotomized metric of self-reported hearing status. All-cause mortality data were ascertained from interviews with family members or relatives of the participants. Cognitive function was evaluated by employing the modified Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), which consisted of seven subdomains (orientation, naming foods, registration, attention and calculation, copy figure, delayed recall, and speech and language). Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed to evaluate the different hearing states on overall survival. The risk of mortality over the follow-up period was estimated by using Cox proportional hazard ratios (HRs) models. Results: A conspicuous probability was revealed in the survival relationship between hearing status and all-cause mortality for the total population ( Conclusions: Cognitive decline was common in individuals with HI, and those with HI and cognitive impairment further increased mortality risk. Our findings prompt a call for actions to improve the hearing status and cognitive function of older people to minimize health risks and improve longevity.