Hearing Impairment as a Risk Factor for Dementia in Older Adults

Completed

• Conditions: Dementia; Hearing Loss

• Registration Number: NCT04284384
• Lead Sponsor: Norwegian Centre for Ageing and Health

Brief Summary

This Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) project is part of a larger project on potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia in a life course perspective, with an overarching aim to improve prevention of dementia and thereby potentially relieve patient and caregiver distress and decrease societal load. The present PhD project will concentrate on confirming knowledge of HI as an independent risk factor for dementia and exploring potentially causative factors to explain this relationship.

Detailed Description

Despite a huge increase in the knowledge about disease mechanisms in various types of dementia in recent years, no curative treatment exists at present. Results from research on disease-modifying agents have been disappointing. This has led to an increased interest in other ways to reduce the prevalence of dementia. A recent report estimated that up to one third of dementia cases could be delayed or prevented by interventions directed at the most common risk factors. In the "Lancet commission on dementia prevention, treatment, and care", hearing impairment (HI) was identified as the potentially most important modifiable risk factor. Even though HI is considered an important modifiable risk factor, the evidence regarding the association between HI and dementia risk is still limited.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2019-08-19
• Study First Submitted: 2020-02-06
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-02-24
• Study First Posted: 2020-02-25
• Primary Completion: 2020-11-20
• Study Completion: 2020-11-20
• Status Verified: 2021-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-09-06
• Last Update Posted: 2021-09-14

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 6952

Inclusion Criteria

• Living in designated area

Exclusion Criteria

• None

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Rate of dementia diagnosis in the HUNT 70+ study	2017-2019	Two clinical and scientific experts will independently set at diagnosis of cognitive impairment or dementia based on all available information applying standard diagnostic criteria Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5).
Rate of Minimal Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in the HUNT 70+ study	2017-2019	Two clinical and scientific experts will independently set at diagnosis of cognitive impairment or dementia based on all available information applying standard diagnostic criteria DSM-5.
Rate of cognitive impairment defined as age- and education-adjusted thresholds on cognitive assessments scales	2017-2019	The participants have been assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale and the ten-word recall test

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Norwegian National Advisory Unit of Ageing and Health; 🇳🇴 Tønsberg, Norway