Objective: This study aimed to determine the association between hearing loss and cognitive function by gender in a nationally representative sample of older adults.
Methods: We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2011) for 655 participants aged 60 to 69 years. The cognitive functioning component consisted of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease, the Animal Fluency Test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test. We created a composite z score to represent global cognitive function. Regression models were used to examine the association between hearing loss and cognitive function.
Results: Moderate/severe hearing loss was significantly associated with lower composite z score in males (β = -28.67, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = -57.13 to -0.20) but not in females (β = -8.82, 95% CI = -36.61 to 18.96).
Conclusion: There were gender differences in the association between hearing loss and cognitive function. Future studies need to investigate these gender-specific associations.
Keywords: aging; cognition impairment; dementia; gender-specific association; hearing loss.