Hearing Loss and PD Risk Mitigated by Early Hearing Aid Use

TOPLINE: 

Hearing loss is associated with a 26% higher risk for Parkinson’s disease (PD), although hearing aids helped mitigate the risk, a new study shows.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed electronic health record data on about 3.6 million veterans (96% male) from the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Hearing loss was confirmed through audiograms conducted between 1999 and 2022.
• Participants were categorized on the basis of hearing loss severity: mild (20 to
• The primary outcome was the incidence of PD, and the mean follow-up period was 7.6 years.

TAKEAWAY:

• Hearing loss was associated with a 26% higher risk for PD at 10 years (hazard ratio, 1.26; P 
• The cumulative incidence of PD was higher in veterans with hearing loss in a dose-dependent manner, with the greatest increase observed in the first 10 years of follow-up.
• Receipt of a hearing aid was associated with a significant decrease in incident PD as early as 1 year after the audiogram in those who received a hearing aid, both among all individuals and the subgroup with impaired hearing.
• The presence of hearing loss and prodromal PD resulted in a higher risk for PD than either condition alone.

IN PRACTICE:

“Given that hearing loss, even that of mild severity, synergizes with known prodromal disorders and leads to a greater than additive risk of incident PD, hearing screening should be enforced at the primary care level even in the absence of a patient expressing hearing concerns. Hearing screening and hearing intervention are low-cost, low-risk interventions that may influence later development of synucleinopathy,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Lee E. Neilson, MD, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon. It was published online on October 21 in JAMA Neurology.

LIMITATIONS: 

The study focused on US veterans, mostly White men, thereby limiting its generalizability. The study did not examine potential confounding factors such as ototoxic drug exposure

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by Veterans Affairs Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development, John and Tami Marick Family Foundation, Collins Medical Trust Award, Oregon Health & Science University Medical Research Foundation, Veterans Affairs Clinical Science Research and Development, and National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research. One author disclosed being a co-inventor on a patent for an ototoxicity monitoring method.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.