Abstract

CANO, Carlos Alberto; BORDA, Miguel Germán; ARCINIEGAS, Antonio J.  and  PARRA, Juan Sebastián. Hearing disorders in elderly people, associated factors and quality of life: SABE Study, Bogotá, Colombia. Biomédica [online]. 2014, vol.34, n.4, pp.574-579. ISSN 0120-4157.  https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v34i4.2352.

Introduction: The aging of the population is a universal epidemiological phenomenon which is not unfamiliar to us and is accompanied by a marked increase of life expectancy. Age-dependent comorbidities, such as hearing disorders, are more prevalent and affect the quality of life in a noticeable manner. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of hearing disorders, of the associated factors and their impact on the quality of life of older adults in Bogota. Materials and methods: Data was taken from the Bogotá SABE Study, which included 2,000 individuals aged =60 years in a probabilistic cross-sectional study sampled by clusters (with 81.9% coverage). We used the "hearing disorders" variable relating it to socio-demographic variables, as well as to the use of hearing aids, the self-perceived health, the comorbidities, the functionality, the cognition and the quality of life as measured with the Visual Analog Scale of the EuroQol Group (EQ-VAS). Results: We found a prevalence of hearing disorders in 267 individuals (13.5%), of whom 15% used hearing aids. The frequency was higher in individuals aged =75 years (46.1%), in the low socioeconomic level (20.2%) and among illiterate people (19.3%, p<0.05). Regarding comorbidities, we found a higher prevalence in individuals suffering from depression (20.2%, p<0.001), and high blood pressure (15%, p<0.01). The quality of life was worse in individuals with hearing disorders, as measured with the EuroQol EQ-VAS (60.93 ± 1.38 vs. 71.75 ± 0.45, p< 0.0001), but it improved among those who used hearing aids as compared to those who did not use them (59.59 ± 1.52, p<0.01). Conclusions: Hearing disorders are relevant in elderly individuals and they affect their perceived quality of life in a noticeable manner. In addition, they are associated with other clinical, functional and cognitive problems. Nevertheless, the intervention with hearing aids reverses that perception.

Keywords : Quality of life; aged; hearing disorders; hearing aids; presbycusis; social class.

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