ArticleThe lancet. Healthy longevity2022
Association between hearing loss and development of dementia using formal behavioural audiometric testing within the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA): a prospective population-based study.
Article in The lancet. Healthy longevity, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Relationships Among Hearing, Auditory Processing, and Cognition: A Study of Older Adults.Audiology research · 2026Article
- Hearing Loss and Dementia: Risk Factor, Early Marker, or Both?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Development and clinical application of a consonant confusion task to evaluate hearing aid benefit.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Hearing Loss Among Older Adults: Epidemiology, Disparities, and Gaps in Research.Annual review of public health · 2026Review
- [Current status and future perspectives on age-related hearing loss and cognitive impairment].Lin chuang er bi yan hou tou jing wai ke za zhi = Journal of clinical otorhinolaryngology head and neck surgery · 2026Review
- Hearing screening for healthy aging: the U.K. should take a targeted approach.The Gerontologist · 2026Article
- Proposed Development of a New Staging System for Hearing Loss: Countermeasure 2 of the Hearing Health Collaborative.Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology · 2026Article
- Pure tone auditory thresholds and their association with cognition in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Dementia and hearing loss: from risk to mechanisms and management.Frontiers in dementia · 2026Review
- Hearing loss and incident dementia over 8 years in Black and White older adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study.Frontiers in epidemiology · 2026Article
- Hearing impairment and dementia: cause, catalyst or consequence?Journal of neurology · 2025Review
- Pragmatic questionnaire-based evaluation of auditory function in individuals with major neurocognitive disorders and hearing loss in diverse contexts.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- Results from AD-HEARING (ADherence to and adjustment of HEARING aids in clinical routine care as preventive dementia strategy): a prospective 6-month follow-up study on cognition and psychological well-being.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Modifiable dementia risk factors associated with objective and subjective cognition.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- Hearing loss promotes Alzheimer's disease.Nature aging · 2024Article
- Neuroimaging Characteristics of Hearing Loss in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery · 2024Article
- Physical Function Trajectories and Mortality in Older Adults With Multisensory Impairment.JAMA otolaryngology-- head & neck surgery · 2024Article
- Estimating the United States Patient Population Size Meeting Audiologic Candidacy for Cochlear Implantation.Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery · 2024Article
- An Interprofessional Approach to Aural Rehabilitation for Adults with Hearing Loss and Cognitive Concerns.Audiology research · 2024Article
- [Relationship Between Hearing Loss and Cognitive Function in Elderly Chinese People: A Study Based on Propensity Score Matching].Sichuan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Sichuan University. Medical science edition · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHearing loss has been identified as a potential major modifiable risk factor for developing dementia. This study examined associations between formal behavioural pure-tone and speech audiometry assessed by an audiologist with development of dementia in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA).
methodsThe MCSA is a prospective population-based study examining the incidence, prevalence, and risk factors of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in Olmsted County, Minnesota, USA. Participants undergo clinical examinations with neuropsychological testing at enrolment and every 15 months. Participants were 50 years or older at enrolment between Nov 29, 2004, and Dec 23, 2019, who underwent formal behavioural audiometric evaluation by an audiologist due to concerns about hearing loss or as a part of annual comprehensive health assessments. Associations of pure-tone average (PTA) and word recognition scores (WRS) with the development of dementia were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression with age as the timescale, and associations with changes in cognitive testing scores over time were evaluated using linear mixed-effects models.
findingsAmong 1200 eligible participants, the mean age at enrolment was 79 years (SD 9), 593 (49%) were men, and 207 developed dementia during a mean of 7·0 years (SD 3·7) of follow-up. After adjusting for sex, years of education, smoking status, diabetes, hypertension, apolipoprotein E ε4 carriership, and hearing rehabilitation (defined as hearing aid or cochlear implant use), neither PTA (hazard ratio [HR] per 10-decibels hearing level increase of 0·99 (95% CI 0·89-1·12; p=0·91) nor WRS (HR per 10% decrease of 0·98, 95% CI 0·89-1 ·07; p=0·65) was significantly associated with the development of dementia. However, both PTA and WRS were significantly associated with poorer performance in cognitive testing over time: participants with a PTA higher than 25 decibels hearing level or a WRS lower than 100% had significantly worse declines in cognitive testing scores. Informant-based hearing difficulties assessed by the participant's study partner were significantly associated with the development of dementia (HR 1·95, 95% CI 1·45-2·62; p<0·0001).
interpretationIn this prospective population-based study, subjective informant-based hearing difficulties were associated with development of dementia, whereas objective measures on formal behavioural audiometry were predictive of poorer performance on cognitive testing over time but not the development of dementia. Other factors related to central processing might potentiate the effects of peripheral hearing loss detected on behavioural audiometric testing.
fundingNational Institute of Health, the Alexander Family Alzheimer's Disease Research Professorship of the Mayo Clinic, the GHR Foundation, the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, the Liston Award, the Schuler Foundation, the Rochester Epidemiology Project medical records linkage system, and the National Institute on Aging.
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