Longitudinal Associations of Sensory and Cognitive Functioning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract

Objectives Although visual and hearing impairments have been found to be associated with cognitive decline in the old age, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. This study aimed at assessing the predictive role of visual and hearing difficulties on subsequent cognitive functioning. Method From the cohort of the first (2002) and fifth waves (2010) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), 3,508 individuals aged 60 and older were included in the study. Five self-reported visual and hearing functioning items were used to assess sensory functioning at baseline. Cognition was assessed 8 years later by means of four measured tests covering immediate and delayed recall, verbal fluency, and processing speed. A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes approach was used to assess the longitudinal associations of visual and hearing functioning with cognitive difficulties. A multigroup longitudinal measurement invariance was used to estimate latent change in cognitive difficulties across groups of participants presenting either visual, hearing, or dual sensory impairment (i.e., those reporting difficulties in both visual and hearing functioning items). Results Visual (β = 0.140, p < .001) and hearing (β = 0.115, p < .001) difficulties predicted cognitive difficulties 8 years later. The latent increase in cognitive difficulties was steeper in people with visual impairment (d = 0.52, p < .001), hearing impairment (d = 0.50, p < .001), and dual-sensory impairment (d = 0.68, p < .001) than those non-impaired (d = 0.12, p < .001). Discussion Visual and hearing difficulties were identified as predictors of subsequent cognitive decline in the old age. Interventions to prevent visual and hearing difficulties may have a substantial impact to slow down subsequent age-related cognitive decline.

Hearing loss is associated with gray matter differences in older adults at risk for and with Alzheimer’s disease

“…Importantly, this suggests that associations between pure-tone hearing loss and brain structure are not confounded by group differences in their pure-tone hearing. A previous study reported that there was a higher prevalence of hearing loss (> 35 dB HL based on PTA of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz in the better ear) in MCI compared to healthy older adults and in AD compared to MCI and healthy older adults (Quaranta et al, 2014); however, most studies do not have such data because they examine the association between pure-tone hearing loss and cognitive decline in healthy older adults or in a group who were initially healthy and at risk of developing dementia (de la Fuente et al, 2019; Deal et al, 2015, 2016, 2019; Okely et al, 2019; Osler et al, 2019).…”

“…Lindenberger & Baltes, 1994). Hearing loss (defined by pure-tone thresholds or measures of auditory processing such as speech-in-noise or word recognition tests) is related to self-reported (Curhan et al, 2019) and behavioral measures of cognitive decline in aging (de la Fuente et al, 2019; Fischer et al, 2016; Fortunato et al, 2016; Merten et al, 2019). Hearing loss also is linked to incident all-cause dementia (Albers et al, 2015; Deal et al, 2015, 2019; Gates et al, 2011; Lin, Metter, et al, 2011; Lin & Albert, 2014; Osler et al, 2019).…”

Determinants of Processing Speed Trajectories among Middle Aged or Older Adults, and Their Association with Chronic Illnesses: The English Longitudinal Study of Aging

“…Processing speed was assessed with a letter cancellation test. Participants had to identify and cross out as many of two target letters as possible from a page that included random letters in rows and columns in one minute [10]. The total number of correctly crossed out letters provided the measure of processing speed.…”

Interacting effects of frontal lobe neuroanatomy and working memory capacity to older listeners’ speech recognition in noise

“…For many older adults such hearing problems often mean a reduced quality of life, social isolation, and higher rates of depressive symptoms (Arlinger, 2003;Ciorba et al, 2012;Pichora-Fuller et al, 2015;Vannson et al, 2015). Furthermore, hearing impairment in older adults is associated with cognitive decline (de la Fuente et al, 2019;Fischer et al, 2016;Fortunato et al, 2016;Merten et al, 2019) as well as a higher risk for incident all-cause dementia (Albers et al, 2015;Deal et al, 2019Deal et al, , 2015Gates et al, 2011;Lin et al, 2011;Lin and Albert, 2014;Osler et al, 2019).…”