{"id":2151502,"date":"2019-09-05T11:16:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T15:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/?p=2151502"},"modified":"2019-09-05T11:16:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T15:16:53","slug":"hearing-aids-hearing-loss-depression-anxiety-dementia-2151502-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/hearing-aids-hearing-loss-depression-anxiety-dementia-2151502-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lower risk of depression, dementia after getting hearing aids"},"content":{"rendered":"
Older adults who get hearing aids for a newly diagnosed hearing loss have a lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia, depression, or anxiety for the first time over the next three years.<\/p>\n
Getting a hearing aid is also linked to a lower risk of suffering fall-related injuries than those who leave their hearing loss uncorrected, a new study finds.<\/p>\n
Yet only 12% of those who have a formal diagnosis of hearing loss actually get the devices\u2014even when they have insurance coverage for at least part of the cost<\/a>\u2014the study shows. It also reveals gaps in hearing aid use among people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, geographic locations, and genders.<\/p>\n The study, which uses data from nearly 115,000 people over age 66 with hearing loss and insurance coverage through a Medicare HMO between 2008 and 2016, appears in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Unlike traditional Medicare, Medicare HMOs typically cover some hearing aid costs for members diagnosed with hearing loss by an audiologist.<\/p>\n The study confirms what other studies have shown among patients studied at a single point in time, but the new findings show differences emerging as time goes on, according to Elham Mahmoudi, a health economist in the department of family medicine at the University of Michigan who led the study.<\/p>\n “We already know that people with hearing loss have more adverse health events, and more co-existing conditions, but this study allows us to see the effects of an intervention and look for associations between hearing aids and health outcomes,” she says.<\/p>\n