Study: Hearing aids reduce mortality risk

Key takeaways:

• Hearing loss increased mortality risk, but the use of hearing aids mitigated that risk.
• However, the rate of regular hearing aid use was just 12.7% among those with hearing loss.

Hearing loss was associated with an increased risk for mortality, but the risk was reduced among those who regularly used hearing aids, according to a recent study.

Janet S. Choi, MD, MPH, an otolaryngology-head and neck surgeon at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, and colleagues pointed to prior research showing that hearing loss is a “major risk factor for adverse health outcomes, including reduced quality of life, depression, dementia and mortality.”

“However, whether treatment of hearing loss with hearing aid use is associated with lower risks of mortality is currently unknown,” they wrote in The Lancet Health Longevity.

Choi and colleagues analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2012, focusing on 9,885 individuals (mean age, 48 years; 49% men) who completed audiometry evaluations.

They found that, at a median 10.4 years of follow-up, the prevalence of audiometry-measured hearing loss was 14.7%, and the all-cause mortality rate was 13.2%.

The rate of regular hearing aid use was only 12.7% among individuals identified as having hearing loss, whereas the rate of nonregular use — classified as hearing aid use of less than once a month — was 6.6%.

Choi and colleagues reported that hearing loss was independently associated with an increased risk for mortality (adjusted HR = 1.4; 95% CI, 1.21-1.62). However, among individuals with hearing loss, the morality risk was lower among hearing aid users vs. nonusers (aHR = 0.76; 95% CI, 0.6-0.95). There were no differences in mortality between nonregular users and nonusers.

The researchers explained that more research is needed to examine the downstream effects of hearing aid use on various health outcomes and mortality.

“For individuals with hearing loss who would benefit from hearing aids, their use in medical settings might enhance effective patient-clinician communication and further contribute to improved health outcomes,” they wrote.

Choi and colleagues also highlighted the low prevalence of hearing aid use due to barriers like “cost, complexity of the hearing health care system, lack of awareness of treatment options and consequences of long-standing hearing loss, and stigma associated with hearing loss and hearing aid use.”

“There should be additional efforts to improve accessibility and affordability of hearing aids and to address disparities in hearing health care as evidence of the potential protective role of hearing aid use against adverse health outcomes emerges,” they concluded.

References:

• Choi J, et al. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2024;doi:10.1016/S2666-7568(23)00232-5.
• Hearing aids may help people live longer. https://news.keckmedicine.org/hearing-aids-may-help-people-live-longer/#. Published Jan. 3, 2023. Accessed Jan. 16, 2023.