There is a significant increase in the rate of hearing loss in patients during the 10th decade of life compared with the 9th decade that represents a fundamental change in the mechanistic process of presbycusis. Despite the potential benefit of hearing aids, they remain underused in the older old. Use may be improved by changing the method of hearing rehabilitation counseling from a patient-initiated model to a chronic disease example.

In this study of the older old, cardiovascular risk factors and disease were associated with worse hearing and a greater rate of hearing deterioration. Hearing loss in women was less associated with the presence of CVD, possibly owing to the cardioprotective effects of estrogen. The association of hearing with CVD severity and management remains to be determined.

Extent of disease-related knowledge and prior disaster training appear to influence WTW. Our findings, taken in the context of a remarkable underemphasis on disaster preparedness in health care curricula, call for a broader incorporation of disaster training to improve the WTW of health care students, and, ultimately, health care workers. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:694-700).

No abstract