Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Association of Hearing Impairment With Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Kamil, RJ; Betz, J; Powers, BB; Pratt, S; Kritchevsky, S; Ayonayon, HN; Harris, TB; Helzner, E; Deal, JA; Martin, K; Peterson, M; Lin, FR ...
Published in: J Aging Health
June 2016

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine whether hearing impairment (HI) in older adults is associated with the development of frailty and falls. METHOD: Longitudinal analysis of observational data from the Health, Aging and Body Composition study of 2,000 participants aged 70 to 79 was conducted. Hearing was defined by the pure-tone-average of hearing thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz in the better hearing ear. Frailty was defined as a gait speed of <0.60 m/s and/or inability to rise from a chair without using arms. Falls were assessed annually by self-report. RESULTS: Older adults with moderate-or-greater HI had a 63% increased risk of developing frailty (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.26, 2.12]) compared with normal-hearing individuals. Moderate-or-greater HI was significantly associated with a greater annual percent increase in odds of falling over time (9.7%, 95% CI = [7.0, 12.4] compared with normal hearing, 4.4%, 95% CI = [2.6, 6.2]). DISCUSSION: HI is independently associated with the risk of frailty in older adults and with greater odds of falling over time.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

J Aging Health

DOI

EISSN

1552-6887

Publication Date

June 2016

Volume

28

Issue

4

Start / End Page

644 / 660

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Self Report
  • Risk
  • Male
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Humans
  • Hearing Loss
  • Gerontology
  • Frail Elderly
  • Female
  • Aged
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Kamil, R. J., Betz, J., Powers, B. B., Pratt, S., Kritchevsky, S., Ayonayon, H. N., … Health ABC study, . (2016). Association of Hearing Impairment With Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults. J Aging Health, 28(4), 644–660. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264315608730
Kamil, Rebecca J., Joshua Betz, Becky Brott Powers, Sheila Pratt, Stephen Kritchevsky, Hilsa N. Ayonayon, Tammy B. Harris, et al. “Association of Hearing Impairment With Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults.J Aging Health 28, no. 4 (June 2016): 644–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264315608730.
Kamil RJ, Betz J, Powers BB, Pratt S, Kritchevsky S, Ayonayon HN, et al. Association of Hearing Impairment With Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults. J Aging Health. 2016 Jun;28(4):644–60.
Kamil, Rebecca J., et al. “Association of Hearing Impairment With Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults.J Aging Health, vol. 28, no. 4, June 2016, pp. 644–60. Pubmed, doi:10.1177/0898264315608730.
Kamil RJ, Betz J, Powers BB, Pratt S, Kritchevsky S, Ayonayon HN, Harris TB, Helzner E, Deal JA, Martin K, Peterson M, Satterfield S, Simonsick EM, Lin FR, Health ABC study. Association of Hearing Impairment With Incident Frailty and Falls in Older Adults. J Aging Health. 2016 Jun;28(4):644–660.
Journal cover image

Published In

J Aging Health

DOI

EISSN

1552-6887

Publication Date

June 2016

Volume

28

Issue

4

Start / End Page

644 / 660

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Self Report
  • Risk
  • Male
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Humans
  • Hearing Loss
  • Gerontology
  • Frail Elderly
  • Female
  • Aged