Posted on 05/04/2022 9:04:55 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
A new nationally representative study found hearing impairment and vision impairment to be independently associated with cognitive impairment.
After considering sex, age and other socio-demographic characteristics, older adults with hearing impairment had more than double the odds of cognitive impairment, while those with vision impairment had more than triple the odds of cognitive impairment. When an older adult experienced both hearing impairment and vision impairment, the odds of cognitive impairment were eight-fold. Approximately one half of adults aged 65 and older with both hearing and vision impairment also had cognitive impairment.
There have been several studies in the past decade linking hearing loss to dementia and cognitive decline, but less attention has been paid to vision loss and dual sensory impairment.
"Given that half of adults with both vision and hearing loss experience serious cognitive problems, sensory loss could be used to help identify those at risk for cognitive decline and dementia," says lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson.
"Dual sensory impairment prevents an individual from compensating for the loss of one sense through the use of another," said co-author Aliya Nowczynski. "Our findings emphasize the need to reach out to older adults with dual sensory impairment, to assess whether there are opportunities for early intervention."
The authors emphasize the importance of considering treatment options for sensory impairment to support the cognitive health of older adults.
"It is important that we consider the accessibility of common treatments for sensory impairment, such as hearing aids and cataract surgery" says co-author Andie MacNeil.
Several possible theories that may explain the association between sensory impairment and cognitive impairment include cognitive deterioration due to decreased auditory and visual input, social disengagement and loneliness due to problems communicating, and age-related degeneration of the central nervous system.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
What?...................
Several years ago I was having my ears cleaned out by the doctor I’d had for years. He said to come back in two weeks for another session. I called to make that appointment and he was gone. This was the second time that this group had done this. So haven’t finished. I go in to see my general doc next week for regular medicare annual. I’ll ask him. My vision is what it is. Fading.
So is the hearing “impairment” mentioned here due to lower volume, or not being able to process sounds at the same volume?
Damn it, you beat me!
Sounds like an adverse effect……..
Well, I did see it clearly…
I said "Okay. Are there any downsides?"
Have you tried ear candles? They work really well. I use them often these days , no more ear infections/problems.
Eh?
“cognitive deterioration due to decreased auditory and visual input, social disengagement and loneliness due to problems communicating, and age-related degeneration of the central nervous system.”
I’ve witnessed this twice in my family. Fortunately, both people (grandma who went blind and uncle who went blind and nearly deaf) were in their early and mid 90s before this set in. My mom got dementia in her early 80s.
It’s a lousy way to go, locked up in your thoughts every day with no social interaction.
We learned yesterday that a 71 year old friend just learned this week she has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She started feeling a bit unwell a few weeks ago and now this death-sentence diagnosis.
I’m not sure which is worse...slow cognitive decline due to vision and hearing loss or the sudden and painful death of pancreatic cancer. It’s so much better to go peacefully in your sleep.
All of our smoke alarms went off this morning at 4:45 am. I thought that instantaneous shock and fright was going to kill me, but I pulled through.
That headline is like facing a panel of closed, locked and blocked doors. I think the essence of it is saying, if you are losing your hearing and/ your sight as you age, then that is also to be seen as a sign of cognitive impairment and brain dysfunction. Really? I’m thinking the lost of sharp eye sight and vision happens to almost all people as they age.
Many of these same people exhibit no apparent loss of cognitive skills. I never thought to relate the two on a general basis.
I think there might be a correlation without causality.
I don’t think hearing or vision loss leads to dementia. Dementia is a physical process within the brain. Its different than depression, cognitive decline, or lack of social interaction.
I DO think a lack of stimulation and social interaction will lead to isolation and a tendency to just “giving up”; which is often confused with a cognitive decline.
I am sorry to hear about your friend.
My wife discovered her pancreatic cancer about three years ago this time of year.
It is a horrible disease. And the treatment is worse.
But it has become more treatable, depending on where its spread and where the primary tumors are in the pancreas.
We have been fortunate in that my wife has responded well. But the 5 year SEER is still pretty poor.
You and your friend will be in my prayers.
Well in a sort of an answer to your question I have severe hearing loss and about twenty-some years ago the audiologist told me that hearing aids would not help because my type of loss meant that I had a serious loss of discrimination. In other words raising the volume didn’t help because I couldn’t understand the words. Fast forward to 4 years ago when I did get hearing aids, and the technology has improved dramatically.
It’s no panacea, but it has made of significant difference in my quality of life. I did not buy the most expensive, but what I have has 96 separate adjustable frequencies. I don’t recall what the maximum number frequencies are available in the more costly ones.
The new work at MIT which promises to regenerate hearing won’t do me any good because it’s 10 or 15 years out at least before it’s available to the public. I’m already 70 so that tells you where I’m going to be when it comes out LOL
That’s very interesting. How does having those 96 frequencies make it better?
Nicotinamide Riboside (at around 450 mg/day (three capsules pf the prior formula and appears to be the same three capsules with the bigger molecule version Thorne now uses, but check if using that brand)) I believe was used for the results listed in the study writeup:
When the scientists supplemented the diet in genetically modified mice with nicotinamide riboside, a derivative of vitamin B3 that increases intracellular levels of NAD+, they did not observe tumour development. Surprisingly, when they gave this diet to mice that had already developed the disease, the size of the tumours was reduced and they eventually disappeared.
The results have been reproduced in other types of cancer such as pancreatic cancer. “We observed the same results in mice with pancreatic adenocarcinoma with regards to DNA damage, so we could conclude that this treatment is effective on tumours caused by oncogene-induced DNA damage and thus, deficit in NAD+,” says Krishna Tummala, first author of the study.
In addition to working with the mouse model, the authors have collated the results of nearly a hundred human samples.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-team-derivative-vitamin-b3-liver.html
Vitamin D helps:
https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(14)00379-1
A neem plant extract shown to help:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160211184014.htm
Black seed oil helps:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080519092215.htm
Apigenin and luteolin helps:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130815172358.htm
“but I might have issues hearing my wife speak to me.”
But, isn’t that the problem that most men have anyway?
Take a look at post #18.
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