Does untreated hearing loss exacerbate cognitive decline?
Colleagues at Johns Hopkins University have been researching aspects of hearing loss and cognition with the ACHIEVE study, a randomised trial to determine the efficacy of hearing intervention on reducing cognitive decline in older adults.
The ACHIEVE study is a randomised trial of older adults aged 70-84 with untreated hearing loss who were free from substantial cognitive impairment, conducted at four U.S. sites. 977 total participants were recruited from two study populations, and 739 healthy community volunteers were newly recruited to the study.
According to the researchers, at the start of the trial, all study participants generally had mild to moderate hearing loss very typical of older adults, but no substantial cognitive impairment.
The three-year intervention included the use of hearing aids, a hearing “toolkit” to assist with self-management and ongoing instruction and counselling with an audiologist. The comparison health education control group had talk sessions with a health educator about chronic disease prevention. The total study population was analysed, hearing intervention versus health education control; the ARIC and community subgroups were also analysed in this manner. The primary endpoint was three-year change in a comprehensive neurocognitive testing battery, which included procedures to help ensure that hearing loss would not affect the results.
The findings show that in a subgroup of older adults with hearing loss who were at higher risk of cognitive decline, using hearing aids for three years cut cognitive decline in half.
According to the ACHIEVE researchers, the hearing intervention may slow down the decline in thinking and memory by making listening easier for the brain or helping people remain more socially and physically active.
Results from the study, the largest randomised, controlled clinical trial of hearing aids for reducing long-term cognitive decline in older adults, were reported for the first time at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2023 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The findings from the ACHIEVE study were simultaneously published in The Lancet.
https://aaic.alz.org/releases_2023/hearing-aids-slow-cognitive-decline.asp
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01406-X/fulltext
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About the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® (AAIC®)
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About the Alzheimer’s Association®
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