The Association between Dual Sensory Impairment and Hospital Admission in California Medicare Beneficiaries

Despite increasing prevalence of dual sensory impairment (DSI) with increasing age in the United States (US), there is little attention on its disease burden. The objective of this study was to assess the association between DSI and all-cause hospitalization in California Medicare beneficiaries.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among all U.S. California Medicare beneficiaries from 2015. Sensory impairment status includes DSI, visual impairment only (VIO), and hearing impairment only (HIO). Hospitalization was defined as at least one inpatient claim in the Inpatient Claim database. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) of hospitalization for DSI.

The study sample included 2,574,641 California Medicare beneficiaries. There were 0.1% (n = 3,055), 0.7% (n = 16,896), and 7.1% (n = 181,838) of beneficiaries who had DSI, VIO, and HIO, respectively. Patients aged 85+ years had the highest proportion in all three sensory impairment groups, especially in the DSI group. Both unadjusted and fully adjusted models revealed a higher odds of inpatient stay for beneficiaries with DSI compared with NSI (unadjusted OR = 2.66; 95% CI = 2.46-2.87; fully adjusted OR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.30-1.54). Subjects with VIO also demonstrated higher odds of hospital admission compared with NSI (fully adjusted OR = 1.48; 95% CI = 1.42-1.53).

In a cohort of U.S. California Medicare beneficiaries, subjects with DSI or VIO had a higher odds of hospitalization compared to those with NSI.