Hearing and Vision Impairment is Associated with Falls Risk among Older Adults

Abstract

Abstract Background: The primary objective was to explore falls risk associated with hearing impairment (HI), vision impairment (VI), and hearing aid use among older adults. Methods: Participants (4,414) were categorized into six groups: no HI or VI, aided and unaided dual sensory impair- ment (DSI), aided and unaided HI only, and VI only. Falls risk included falling, being unsteady, and worried about falling. Results: Individuals with DSI had the highest falls risk, gen- erally followed by VI only and then HI only. The use of hear- ing aids changed only one interpretation: Only those with aided HI were at increased risk for having fallen or nearly fallen in the last six months. Conclusion: Those with DSI generally had the highest falls risk, followed by VI only and then HI only. Hearing aids did not appreciably alter the associations between falls risk and combinations of hearing impairment and vision impairment. Keywords