Hearing loss impacts on the use of community and informal supports

• Published in: Age and ageing Vol. 39; no. 4; pp. 458 - 464
• Main Authors: Schneider, Julie, Gopinath, Bamini, Karpa, Michael J., McMahon, Catherine M., Rochtchina, Elena, Leeder, Stephen R., Mitchell, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01-07-2010; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Blue Mountains Eye Study; Blue Mountains Hearing Study; Community service; community services; Community support; Company service development; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dependency (Psychology); Elder care; Elder services; elderly; Female; Friends; Geriatric Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Health Services Needs and Demand; Health status; Hearing; Hearing Aids - utilization; Hearing impairment; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss - epidemiology; Hearing Loss - psychology; Humans; Influence; informal support; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle Aged; Observations; Older people; Reliance; Service development; Services; Severity of Illness Index; Social impact; Social Support; Support services; Walking - statistics & numerical data; Australia
• ISSN: 0002-0729; 1468-2834
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afq051

Objective: the aim of this study is to estimate the cross-sectional and longitudinal impact of hearing loss on use of community support services and reliance on non-spouse family/friends among older people. Methods: Blue Mountains Hearing Study participants (n = 2,956) were assessed for hearing impairment by audiologists in sound-treated booths. Participants were classified as hearing impaired if PTA0.5–4 kHz >25 dB HL. Use of services and non-spouse family/friend support was assessed cross-sectionally. Incident use was assessed among survivors at the 5-year follow-up (n = 1,457). Results: a significant cross-sectional association between hearing loss (>25 dB HL) and use of community support services was observed after adjusting for age, sex, living status, self-rated poor health, self-reported hospital admissions, disability in walking and best-corrected visual impairment [odds ratio (OR) 2.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15–3.90]. Participants with hearing loss who never used a hearing aid were twice as likely to use formal supports as participants without hearing loss (multivariate-adjusted OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.19–4.24). Hearing loss increased the incident need for non-spouse family/friend support or community services (multivariate-adjusted OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.02–2.18). Conclusions: after adjusting for confounding factors, hearing impairment negatively impacted on the independence of older persons by increasing reliance on community or family support.