Hearing screening in the elderly and evaluating the need for hearing aid

Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions affecting the elderly. The impacts of hearing loss are depression, social isolation, and functional disability, particularly for those who have not yet been evaluated or treated for hearing loss. The aim of this study was audiologic screening and assessing candidacy for hearing aid in the elderly people. This analytic-cross sectional study was performed on 52 older adults aged from 51 to 97. Subjects were evaluated according to ASHA guidelines for audiologic screening in adults [1997]. Using HHIE-S as hearing disability screening instrument, the need for hearing aid use was evaluated. About 86 percent of subjects had some degree of hearing loss. There were significant correlation between PTA[0.5, 1, 2] KHz > 26 and HHIE-S > 10. According to these two factors 21.2 percent of subjects needed to use hearing aid while 18 percent of this group had hearing aids. There is high prevalence of hearing loss among older adults, thus it's necessary to evaluate the need for hearing aid in this rapidly growing population. Among different factors affecting hearing aid candidacy the most correlated were PTA[0.5, 1, 2] KHz > 26 and HHIE-S > 10. Therefore according to this study by combination of these two evaluation of hearing aid candidacy would be more appropriate

Association between chlamydia pneumoniae infection and carotid atherosclerotic plaques

Several studies have suggested an association between Chlamydia pneumonia infection and atherosclerosis. This study was designed to investigate the association between this organism and atherosclerotic plaque formation in right and left common carotid arteries [CCAs] and extracranial portions of internal carotid arteries [ICAs]. Antibodies to Chlamydia pneumoniae [IgA and IgG] were measured and compared in 42 patients who had plaque in at least one CCA or ICA [detected by duplex ultrasound] and 82 patients without any plaque in these arteries. Cp.IgG and Cp.IgA titers over 1.10 ISR were defined to be positive. We found that 6.1% of control subjects and 16.7% of cases were Cp.IgA seropositive. The difference between these two groups was prominent but was not statistically significant [P = 0.104]. 4.2% of females without atherosclerotic plaque and 31.6% of females with plaque were Cp.IgA seropositive. This difference is statistically significant [P = 0.005]. There was no significant difference in seropositivity of Cp.IgG between case and control subjects or in male and female groups with or without plaque. Cp.IgA is a predictor of atherosclerosis in women, but Cp.IgG has no predictive value for plaque formation in either gender