Hearing Impairment Appears Associated With Vision Problems in Elderly: Presented at ARVO

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Title: Hearing Impairment Appears Associated With Vision Problems in Elderly: Presented at ARVO
URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/22082A.htm
Doctor's Guide
May 2, 2008

By Micheal Casasnovas

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla -- May 2, 2008 -- Elderly patients, especially those who have had cataracts or have glaucoma, should be tested for other comorbidities, including hearing loss, researchers suggested here at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).

"The actual likelihood of having a combined impairment is at least twice that [which is] expected," said Marilyn Schneck, PhD, Researcher, Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, California, and a member of the program committee of ARVO. "This holds true over a range of definitions of hearing and vision impairment and ocular disease status."

In a poster presentation here on April 29, Dr. Schneck described a study of 446 patients who participated in a hearing screening test at the second follow-up after a Smith-Kettlewell vision study. The patients' mean age was 79.9 years (range, 67.0-107.1 years), and 43% of the patients were male.

This hearing test used frequency tones of 500, 2000, and 4000 Hz occurring twice in each ear at 40 dB without the use of a hearing aid. Researchers determined hearing impairment when the patient heard no tones. Patients were also tested binocularly with habitual correction. Researchers also measured spatial vision of high- and low-contrast distance acuity using the Bailey-Lovie chart at 3 m, low contrast near acuity with and without glare using the Berkeley glare test at 40 cm, low contrast with low luminance near acuity, as well as contrast sensitivity.

"We found that poorer performance on any vision measure greatly increases the likelihood of hearing loss when age is not considered," Dr. Schneck said. "Hearing impairment is not associated with high contrast acuity when age and other covariates are taken into account," she said, although some low-contrast vision measures correlate with hearing impairment.

"Two eye conditions -- history of cataract surgery and diagnosis of glaucoma -- are significantly associated with moderate hearing impairment [P < .05], with the likelihood of hearing impairment [being] greater in those having had cataract surgery and less in those with glaucoma," said Dr. Schneck.

[Presentation title: Association Between Moderate Hearing Loss and Vision in a Population of Elders. Poster A92]

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