Association between Hearing Difficulty, Masticatory Difficulty, and Risk of Cognitive Impairment: Analysis of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging Data (2006-2020).

Sook Hee Choi; Yun Hee Kim

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the association between hearing difficulty, masticatory difficulty, and cognitive impairment using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. Methods: This secondary data analysis included 6939 Korean adults aged 45 or older with no cognitive impairment at baseline. Self-reported questionnaires measured hearing and masticatory difficulty, and cognitive impairment were assessed using the Korea Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE). Cox models were used to estimate the risk of cognitive impairment associated with the coexistence of hearing and masticatory difficulty. Results: People who coexisted with hearing and masticatory difficulty were 2.4%. The incidence rate of cognitive impairment was 37.7% for the study sample and higher in females than males. Compared to people without hearing and masticatory difficulty, the total study sample with the coexistence of hearing and masticatory difficulty had a higher risk of cognitive impairment (HR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.03-1.56), females with the coexistence of hearing and masticatory difficulty had a greater risk of cognitive impairment (HR :1.52 95% CI: 1.11-2.09). Conclusion: Coexistence of hearing and masticatory difficulty increased females' cognitive impairment risk. It is recommended to check hearing and masticatory function in a timely, which may be effective in detecting individuals at high risk of cognitive impairment.

SOUTH Korea; COGNITION disorder risk factors; RISK assessment; SELF-evaluation; RESEARCH funding; SECONDARY analysis; COGNITION disorders in old age; QUESTIONNAIRES; SEX distribution; CHI-squared test; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; MASTICATORY muscles; LONGITUDINAL method; KAPLAN-Meier estimator; LOG-rank test; COGNITION disorders; MASTICATION; AGING; HEARING disorders; CONFIDENCE intervals; DATA analysis software; PROPORTIONAL hazards models

Research in Community & Public Health Nursing (RCPHN), 2024, Vol 35, Issue 4, p434

2983-0648

Academic Journal

10.12799/rcphn.2024.00745