ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Age-related cognitive decline involves a complex set of factors. Among these factors, hearing loss is considered to have a significant impact, but the effect of hearing aid use remains unresolved. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of hearing aid use by simultaneously assessing various factors not only cognitive function but also frailty, anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with hearing loss. METHODS: The cross-sectional study at the Hearing Aid (HA) Center was conducted between 2020 and 2021. Initially, associations with cognitive function, QOL, frailty, and mental state among patients with hearing loss were examined, irrespective of whether they wore a hearing aid or not. Next, these patients were divided into HA users (using HA for more than 1 year) and non-users (no prior use of HA) with 42 patients in each group. The average age and 6-frequency pure tone audiometry (PTA) was 74.5 ± 6.5 years and 50.6 ± 12.1 dB, respectively. All participants filled out the questionnaire about their life style, medical condition. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for cognitive function, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for mental state, Short Form 36 version 2 (SF-36v2) for QOL, and Kihon Checklist for frailty were compared between HA users and non-users and correlated with the auditory data (PTA and speech discrimination). RESULTS: Among 84 patients, 40 had an MMSE score â¦26. All eight scores and three components of SF-36v2 were lower than those of the control group. The patients with hypertension were significantly more in HA user than in non-HA user, whereas there was no difference in diabetes, heart attack, stroke and education. Although HA users were older and showed hypertension more their PTA was worse than that of non-users, MMSE scores were not different between the groups. MMSE scores correlated with both PTA and speech discrimination in non-users but not in HA users. However, a multivariate analysis of the effect of HA use on MMSE scores adjusting for age, hypertension, and hearing loss, could not be revealed. The vitality and mental component summary of the SF-36v2 was better in HA users than in non-users. CONCLUSION: Elderly patients with hearing loss were cognitively impaired and had low QOL. HA users showed better QOL score than non-HA user, especially about the mental condition. The absence of a correlation between MMSE scores and hearing loss in HA users suggests the potential use of HA in preventing cognitive decline.
ABSTRACT
We conducted the first survey of otorhinolaryngological (ORL) screening at educational institutions, from kindergarten to high school, in Niigata Prefecture. The survey results showed that ORL screening is not performed in 62.1% of kindergartens and nursery schools, and that screening was conducted by non-ENT doctors in 23.9% of them. At elementary school entry health check-ups, ORL screening was performed by otorhinolaryngologists in only 4.2% of children overall. ORL screening was conducted in students in all grades by 51.7% of all elementary schools and 31.6% of all junior high schools. Audiometry was performed in students in all grades by over 80% of elementary schools and junior high schools. With regard to high schools, ORL screening was performed in students in all grades at only three schools among 105 high school; ORL screening and audiometry were conducted primarily in the first-year students. In addition to the above results, the survey revealed that no ORL screening whatsoever was performed during a period of 9 years at an elementary school and a junior high school in a certain municipality; as a result of discussion with the relevant municipality, it was decided that screening will be conducted starting at 2016. From the viewpoint of reinforcing the structure of conducting ORL screening in infants in whom ORL findings are identified at a high frequency, we requested that Niigata City conduct ORL screening at private kindergartens in Niigata City where the ORL screening rate is low. We consider this survey to have been productive, as it identified meaningful new facts and measures that could be devised to address the relevant issues. It is our aim to become more proactively than ever involved in school health including health check-ups.
