ArticleAge and ageing2024
Associations of hearing and visual loss with cognitive decline and dementia risk: a 25-year follow-up of the Maastricht Aging Study.
Article in Age and ageing, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Association of sensory impairment severity and assistive device use with prevalent and incident motoric cognitive risk syndrome.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Downstream of hearing loss: a population-based multistate analysis of lifetime risk and years lived with hearing loss, dementia and their comorbidity in Finland.Age and ageing · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHearing loss (HL) and visual loss (VL) are recently identified as promising dementia risk factors, but long-term studies with adequate control of other modifiable dementia risk factors are lacking. This 25-year follow-up study investigated the association between objectively measured HL and VL with cognitive decline and incident dementia.
methods1823 participants (age 24-82 years) of the Maastricht Aging Study were assessed at baseline, 6, 12 and 25 years. Baseline HL was defined as pure-tone hearing loss ≥20 dB at frequencies of 1, 2 and 4 kHz and VL as binocular, corrected visual acuity <0.5. Associations with cognitive decline (verbal memory, information processing speed, executive function) and incident dementia were tested using linear mixed models and Cox proportional hazard models, respectively. Analyses were adjusted for demographics and 11 modifiable dementia risk factors (LIfestyle for BRAin health index).
resultsParticipants with HL (n = 520, 28.7%) showed faster decline in all cognitive domains than participants without HL. No consistent association was found for VL (n = 58, 3.2%), but below-average visual acuity (<1) showed significant associations with information processing speed and executive function. No significant associations with dementia risk were found. Findings were independent of demographics and modifiable dementia risk factors.
conclusionsHL predicts faster cognitive decline but not dementia risk in adults aged 24-82 years. VL shows no consistent associations, though below-average visual acuity is linked to faster cognitive decline. This study supports HL as an independent risk factor for cognitive decline. Future studies should further evaluate the roles of HL and VL in dementia risk reduction.
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