Hearing Status, Loneliness, and Verbal Fluency in Older Adults: A Latent Growth Curve Modeling Approach

ObjectivesThis study examined the influence of hearing status and loneliness on verbal fluency trajectories in adults aged 60 years and older, assessing their contributions to baseline performance and longitudinal change over time.MethodsData were drawn from 4,929 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with objective hearing assessment in 2018 and three waves of semantic verbal fluency and loneliness measured in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Latent growth curve models were estimated to examine longitudinal change.ResultsVerbal fluency showed a small but statistically significant increase over time, whereas loneliness showed a slight decrease over time. Worse hearing status predicted lower baseline verbal fluency and higher baseline loneliness. The association between hearing status and longitudinal change in verbal fluency was observed in partially adjusted models but was attenuated and did not reach statistical significance after full covariate adjustment.DiscussionThese findings support an association between hearing status and baseline levels of verbal fluency and loneliness, while evidence for longitudinal change in verbal fluency was limited to partially adjusted models.