2023-04-17 05:46:39
Researchers in Britain may have found a relatively simple and inexpensive way to prevent dementia: through headphones.
According to the study, published in the specialized magazine The Lancetpeople with limited hearing have, compared to people who hear normally, a higher risk of developing dementia if they do not wear hearing aids.
Both the risk of dementia and hearing loss increase with age. It is estimated that in the year 2050 there will be about 150 million people affected by dementiaaccording to that publication.
Hearing loss is associated with 8 percent of global cases of dementia, according to a research document published by the specialized portal JAMA Network. In other words, hearing ability is the greatest modifiable risk factor in dementia.
The researchers also agree on this. The Lancet, and describe hearing aids as a minimally invasive and inexpensive way to decrease the risk of dementia.
To verify this, the scientists evaluated the data of around 440,000 people from the UK Biobank, in which the biomedical data of about 500,000 people are stored. Nearly 25 percent of the individuals had limited hearing. Only 11.4 percent of those people used a hearing aid.
Compared with people with normal hearing, those who wore hearing aids did not have an increased risk of developing dementia in its various forms, including Alzheimer. In people with hearing problems who did not wear hearing aids, the risk increased to 42 percent, also compared with the normally hearing group.
Loneliness, isolation and depression, risks of dementia?
In addition, the scientists investigated whether factors such as loneliness, social isolation or depressive symptoms could influence the correlation between hearing loss and dementia. The improvement of the psychological and social situation, however, had little influence on the relationship between dementia and hearing loss, so the researchers assume that it is the hearing aid that provides protection in a certain way.
Because this is an observational study, researchers do not yet know the potential underlying neurological mechanisms that could explain the relationship between hearing loss and dementia.
Likewise, it is possible to explain this correlation through other factors, such as, for example, that people who use a hearing aid would also take care of their health in other aspects, with which other risk factors for dementia would also decrease.
On the other hand, this is not the first study to find a link between the use of hearing aids and a decreased risk of dementia. What is known is, at least, that wearing hearing aids does no harm, and that it could bring great benefits.
(cp/ers)
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