Vision and Hearing Loss go Together in Elderly

Ivanhoe Newswire
Tuesday, October 10, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Adults experiencing vision loss as they age are more likely to have hearing loss and vice versa.

Researchers in Australia studied the link between age-related hearing and vision loss in 1,911 adults.

They found more than 65 percent of those who were visually impaired were also hearing impaired. The two most common causes of age-related vision loss, cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, were independently associated with hearing loss.

According to the report, loss of both vision and hearing may be a regular part of aging. This may explain why older adults often have the two conditions. Another explanation is common risk factors could make the elderly more likely to have both conditions.

"Each condition has been postulated to result from somewhat similar genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors," write the authors. "Exposure to oxidative stress [when cells get too much oxygen], cigarette smoking and atherosclerosis [hardening of the arteries] and its risk factors have been linked respectively to age-related macular degeneration, cataract and hearing loss. Another common risk factor for cataract and visual and hearing impairments is diabetes."

In a 1994 survey of American adults older than 70, 18 percent said they had impaired vision, 33 percent said they had hearing problems, and 9 percent reported both. These two conditions may be increasing because people are living longer, and there are more older adults than ever before.

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SOURCE: Archives of Ophthalmology, 2006;124:1465-1470