People who use a hearing aid before the age of 70 can dramatically reduce their risk of dementia, suggest researchers in America, whose study highlighted the importance of early intervention for hearing loss, reports The Independent.
Dementia affects more than 6m Americans and leads to more than 100 000 deaths each year, according to the National Institutes of Health, which predicts that as the population ages, cases could double by 2060.
Age-related hearing loss is a risk factor for developing dementia, and the research letter from a team at UCLA Health and published in JAMA Neurology found that using hearing aids could reduce this risk.
After studying nearly 3 000 participants over up to two decades, the researchers found that those with hearing loss who used hearing aids had as much as a 61% lower risk for dementia among those under 70 at the time of their hearing loss diagnosis.
But the authors noted only 17% of people with moderate to severe hearing loss use hearing aids.
UCLA Health gave possible theories for the link between hearing loss and dementia, including that hearing loss causes the brain to deteriorate faster. Additionally, it works harder to understand conversation when the person can’t hear well.
Straining your brain regularly like this can have an impact on your cognitive function, and also limit social engagement, because conversing in noisy environments is less enjoyable, they noted.
The brain may then struggle to be intellectually stimulated without socialisation.
Age-related hearing loss affects one in three people older than 60, according to the American Academy of Audiology. One in two people over 85 has hearing loss, and it warns that untreated hearing problems can be connected to cognitive decline as well as depression, anxiety, paranoia and poor social relationships.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Brain changes from hearing loss linked to dementia – US study
Hearing aids linked to reduced risk of mental decline and falls but few get them
US dementia cases may double by 2060, study finds