Association between hearing loss and dementia in elderly

Background: Long standing hearing-loss often leads to the setting in of dementia as hearing-loss. In this study, elderly population were screened for hearing-loss and dementia using Hindi-Mental State Examination. Aims: To know the association between the dementia and Hearing loss Method 206 participants in the age group of 60-80 years (110 were females and 96 were males) were subjected to audiological evaluation and dementia screening using HMSE dementia scoring scale and it was compared with hearing level. Results: Out of 206 subjects, 110 were females and 96 were males. Right ear hearing-loss was seen in 147 cases and left ear in 130 cases. 48 individuals had no hearing-loss, 39 participants had unilateral hearing-loss and 119 participants had bilateral hearing-loss. Most common type of hearing-loss observed was mild hearing-loss 124 participants had no dementia, 82 had dementia. 60 had mild cognitive impairment and 22 had severe cognitive impairment. 49 out of 82 participants with dementia had bilateral hearing-loss. As the hearing handicap percentage increases from 1-100, dementia score decreases. But it was not statistically significant. More number of men were affected with hearing-loss but more number of female participants had dementia. Conclusion: Hearing-loss is more common in men in elderly population but dementia is more commonly seen in females.