Historical change in midlife trajectories of self-reported sensory functioning across 16 nations

Problems with vision or hearing in midlife and old age can have a detrimental impact on individuals' autonomy in everyday life, social participation, and quality of life. However, little is known about historical trends in self-reported vision and hearing trajectories among middle-aged adults and how these differ across nations.

The researchers used harmonized data (n = 96,896; data collection 1996-2020) on self-reported near and distant vision as well as hearing from nationally representative panel surveys across a total of 16 countries (United States, Mexico, South Korea, England, and countries in Continental, Mediterranean, and Nordic Europe) in order to compare historical change in middle-aged adults' sensory functioning trajectories. The researchers included sex, age, education, chronic conditions, and depressive symptoms as moderators of historical change.

Longitudinal multilevel regression models revealed that at age 50 and across most birth year cohorts, U.S. individuals had poorer self-reported near and distant vision than individuals in England and Continental Europe. For the United States, there was no evidence of historical change in self-reported hearing and distant vision. Across most countries, including the United States, there was a historical decline in self-reported near vision. Women reported better hearing than men; this sex discrepancy narrowed across historical time. Education and depressive symptoms were more closely associated with self-reported sensory functioning in the United States than in most other regions.

The findings of this study suggest that there is little evidence for global historical improvements in self-reported sensory functioning.