Reacción a "Reactions: Hearing aid use reduces risk of dementia in hearing-impaired people"

This is a timely and important paper. There has been a lot of interest in hearing conditions and their possible contribution to the risk of developing dementia in recent years and it is estimated that hearing may account for about 8% of the potentially modifiable risk of developing dementia. This then raises the question as to whether treating hearing loss will actually make a difference to a person’s future risk of developing dementia.

It is difficult to do convincing studies to explore this question as you need large samples and long enough periods of follow-up. However, the evidence is beginning to emerge to support the notion that the humble hearing aid can do much to fight the giant Dementia. This paper is an important contribution. Using data from nearly half a million participants in the UK Biobank, an international team of researchers found that people with untreated hearing loss had a 42% increased risk of developing dementia compared to people without hearing problems. However, for people with hearing impairment but who used hearing aids, their risk of dementia was almost the same as for people with normal hearing.

The paper also explores some of the possible reasons as to how hearing aids may work, tending to favour the idea that they are effective because they reduce the cognitive effort involved in hearing and/or they reduce the effects of sensory deprivation if you can’t hear. The data provided less support or the idea that hearing loss-related dementia risk is mediated by social withdrawal and isolation.

As someone has recently started to use hearing aids myself, I am greatly encouraged by these findings, and as a clinical researcher I appreciate having better data on which to base my advice to patients. We need to use studies like this to encourage the public not to be embarrassed by hearing problems and to seek assessment and treatment sooner rather than later.