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. 2024;98(1):197-207.
doi: 10.3233/JAD-230806.

Impact of Concurrent Visual and Hearing Impairment on Incident Alzheimer's Disease: The LIFE Study

Sung-A Kim  1   2 , Megumi Maeda  1 , Fumiko Murata  1 , Takayuki Fujii  3 , Emi Ueda  4   5 , Rei Ono  6   7 , Haruhisa Fukuda  1
Affiliations

Impact of Concurrent Visual and Hearing Impairment on Incident Alzheimer's Disease: The LIFE Study

Sung-A Kim et al. J Alzheimers Dis. 2024.

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing in Japan due to population aging. The association between sensory impairment and incident AD remains unclear.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the impact of sensory impairment on incident AD.

Methods: We analyzed residents of five municipalities participating in the Longevity Improvement & Fair Evidence (LIFE) Study. The participants comprised individuals who had newly applied for long-term care needs certification between 2017 and 2022 and had no cognitive impairment upon application or AD diagnosis within the preceding six months. Participants were classified according to sensory impairment status: visual impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI), neither sensory impairment (NSI), and dual sensory impairment (DSI). The month succeeding the certification application was set as the index month, and the interval from that month until AD onset was assessed. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis was performed to calculate the risk of AD onset according to sensory impairment status while adjusting for sex, age, dependence level, self-reliance level, and comorbidities.

Results: Among 14,186 participants, we identified 1,194 (8.4%) who developed AD over a median follow-up period of 22.6 months. VI and HI only were not associated with incident AD. However, DSI conferred a significantly higher risk (HR: 1.6, CI: 1.1-2.2, p = 0.008) of AD onset than NSI.

Conclusions: Individuals with concurrent DSI have a higher risk of developing AD than those with single or NSI. Preventing and treating sensory impairment may not only improve functional outcomes, but could also help to reduce the future risk of AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; cognition; cohort study; dementia; sensory impairment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Haruhisa Fukuda received grants from Eisai Co., Ltd. and Biogen Inc.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan–Meier curves of AD onset in the VI only group versus the NSI group. AD, Alzheimer’s disease; NSI, neither sensory impairment; VI, visual impairment.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan–Meier curves of AD onset in the HI only group versus the NSI group. AD, Alzheimer’s disease; HI, hearing impairment; NSI, neither sensory impairment.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Kaplan–Meier curves of AD onset according to sensory impairment status. AD, Alzheimer’s disease; DSI, dual sensory impairment; HI, hearing impairment; NSI, neither sensory impairment; VI, visual impairment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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