ISLAMABAD: A new study published in The Lancet Public Health has found that using a hearing aid can help mitigate the risk of dementia.
The study followed over 437,000 people in a cohort from the United Kingdom (UK) Biobank, a large biomedical database and research resource.
It looked at self-reported use of hearing aids, each person’s risk for dementia, and medical records to see if the person developed the disease.
The research found that untreated hearing loss is associated with a higher risk of dementia. The study’s corresponding author, Dongshan Zhu, stated that “the evidence is building that hearing loss likely to be the most impactful modifiable risk factor for dementia in mid-life.”
However, the study also found that the use of hearing aids could be a minimally invasive and cost-effective treatment to mitigate the potential impact of hearing loss on dementia.
The study considers other factors
The research also considered other influencing factors, such as loneliness, social isolation, and depression.
The study confirmed that using a hearing aid reduces the risk of dementia to levels similar to people without hearing loss.
A 2020 Lancet Commission on dementia intervention, prevention, and care suggested that hearing loss may be associated with around 8% of dementia cases.
The study highlights the importance of treating hearing loss to mitigate the risk of dementia.
It provides evidence that the use of hearing aids can be a cost-effective and minimally invasive treatment option to reduce the impact of hearing loss on dementia.
