Prevalence of hearing loss in patients with dementia and its association with dementia severity

Dementia and hearing loss pose a substantial global health challenge, and understanding their association is crucial. This study aims to determine the prevalence of hearing loss in dementia patients and investigate the risk factors for dementia severity including hearing loss.

This study was a cross-sectional study. Patients with dementia diagnosed by a psychiatrist or neurologist were invited to participate in this study. Audiometry and tympanometry were performed for hearing investigation. The severity of dementia was determined by the Thai Mental State Examination questionnaire, and the SD-SLP-01 aphasia screening questionnaire and associate factors were collected.

A total of 88 participants were included in the study. Two participants withdrew because they were unable to complete hearing tests. The prevalence of hearing loss in this study was 94.2%. The prevalence of aphasia was 25.6%. The most common type of hearing loss is sensorineural hearing loss. Twenty-five percent of participants had moderate to severe hearing loss. A statistically significant difference was observed in the mean Thai Mental State Examination scores across different degrees of hearing loss (p = 0.040). The factors that contributed to the severity of dementia included aphasia (OR: 14.40, 95% CI: 4.53-45.73, p < 0.001) and severe hearing loss (OR: 55.00, 95% CI: 0.83-3,650.97, p = 0.014).

Our findings revealed an extremely high prevalence of hearing loss in the dementia population. Furthermore, a statistically significant association was observed between severe hearing loss and dementia.