Bottom Line: A population-based study using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan suggests hearing loss is associated with risk of dementia. The study included 8,135 patients with newly diagnosed hearing loss and an equal number of individuals without hearing loss for comparison. Among the 16,270 study participants, 1,868 developed dementia. Patients with hearing loss had a higher risk of dementia, especially those 45 to 64 years old. Six coexisting conditions also were associated with dementia risk in the present study. The authors caution causal inferences cannot be drawn from their findings.
Authors:
Authors: Charles Tzu-Chi Lee, Ph.D., of the National Taiwan Normal University, and Chin-Mei Liu, Ph.D., of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, both in Taipei
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.8112)
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
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About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is the new online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. Every Wednesday and Friday, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.
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