ArticleAge and ageing2022
Dementia and hearing-aid use: a two-way street.
Article in Age and ageing, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The association between dual sensory impairment and dementia: a meta-analysis and systematic review of the literature.Age and ageing · 2025Pooled it
- Comparative Effectiveness of Personal Sound Amplification Products Versus Hearing Aids for Unilateral Hearing Loss: A Prospective Randomized Crossover Trial.Journal of Korean medical science · 2024Trial
- Hearing Loss and Dementia: Risk Factor, Early Marker, or Both?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Hearing screening for healthy aging: the U.K. should take a targeted approach.The Gerontologist · 2026Article
- Dementia and hearing loss: from risk to mechanisms and management.Frontiers in dementia · 2026Review
- A hypothetical intervention on the use of hearing aids for the risk of dementia in people with hearing loss in UK Biobank.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Association of midlife hearing impairment and hearing aid use with incident dementia: analysis of two UK-based longitudinal cohort studies.Nature aging · 2025Article
- What are the Correlates of Hearing Aid Use for People Living With Dementia?Journal of aging and health · 2025Article
- Relationship between hearing thresholds and cognitive function in hearing aid non-users and long-term users post-midlife.npj aging · 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
- Enablers and Barriers to Hearing aid Use in People Living With Dementia.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2024Article
- Reported Unmet Hearing Aid Need in Older People With Dementia: The US National Core Indicators Survey.Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · 2024Article
- Interactive effects of hearing aid use and cognitive function in patients with hearing loss.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2024Article
- Relationship of Hearing Loss to Parkinson's Disease, Dementia, and APOE Genotype in Adults.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- Prevalence and predictors of self-reported hearing aid use and benefit in Norway: the HUNT study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Factors Associated With Longitudinal Patterns of Hearing Aid Use.Innovation in aging · 2024Article
- New horizons in hearing conditions.Age and ageing · 2023Article
- Characterisation of the treatment provided for children with unilateral hearing loss.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Article
- Hearing loss, hearing aid use, and performance on the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA): findings from the HUNT study in Norway.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Hearing loss and its link to cognitive impairment and dementia.Frontiers in dementia · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesHearing-aid use may reduce risk of dementia, but cognitive impairment makes use more challenging. An observed association between reduced hearing-aid use and incident dementia could reflect either or both of these causal paths. The objective was to examine the effects of each path while minimising contamination between paths.
methodsHealth records data from 380,794 Veterans who obtained hearing aids from the US Veterans Affairs healthcare system were analysed. Analysis 1 (n = 72,180) used multivariable logistic regression to model the likelihood of incident dementia 3.5-5 years post hearing-aid fitting for patients free of dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Analysis 2 (n = 272,748) modelled the likelihood of being a persistent hearing-aid user at 3 years 2 months after fitting, contrasting subgroups by level of cognitive function at the time of fitting. Analysis time windows were optimized relative to dataset constraints. Models were controlled for available relevant predictors.
resultsThe adjusted OR for incident dementia was 0.73 (95% CI 0.66-0.81) for persistent (versus non-persistent) hearing-aid users. The adjusted OR for hearing-aid use persistence was 0.46 (95% CI 0.43-0.48) in those with pre-existing dementia (versus those remaining free of MCI and dementia).
conclusionSubstantial independent associations are observed in both directions, suggesting that hearing-aid use decreases risk of dementia and that better cognitive function predisposes towards persistent use. Research studying protective effects of hearing-aid use against dementia needs to account for cognitive status. Clinically, hearing devices and hearing care processes must be accessible and usable for all, regardless of their cognitive status.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.