Hearing loss may be a non-motor feature of Parkinson's disease in older people in Taiwan

Background and purpose The aim of this study was to explore whether hearing loss is associated with the risk of Parkinson's disease in the elderly in Taiwan. Methods Using claims data of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program, 4976 patients (aged 65 years or older) with newly diagnosed he...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of neurology 2014-05, Vol.21 (5), p.752-757
Main Authors: Lai, S.-W., Liao, K.-F., Lin, C.-L., Lin, C.-C., Sung, F.-C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Cohort Studies
Female
hearing loss
Hearing Loss - epidemiology
Hearing Loss - etiology
Humans
Incidence
Male
National Health Programs
Parkinson Disease - complications
Parkinson Disease - epidemiology
Parkinson's disease
Proportional Hazards Models
retrospective cohort study
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Taiwan - epidemiology
the elderly
universal insurance
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Summary:Background and purpose The aim of this study was to explore whether hearing loss is associated with the risk of Parkinson's disease in the elderly in Taiwan. Methods Using claims data of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Program, 4976 patients (aged 65 years or older) with newly diagnosed hearing loss from 2000 to 2010 were identified and 19 904 subjects without hearing loss were randomly selected as comparisons, frequency matched by sex, age and index year of diagnosing hearing loss. The incidence of Parkinson's disease by the end of 2010 and the associated risk factors were investigated. Results The incidence of Parkinson's disease in the hearing loss group was 1.77‐fold higher than that in the non‐hearing‐loss group (3.11 vs. 1.76 per 1000 person‐years). After controlling for confounding factors, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of Parkinson's disease was 1.53 (95% CI 1.17, 1.99) for the hearing loss group compared with the non‐hearing‐loss group. Male sex (HR = 1.33, 95% CI 1.02, 1.74), age (for each year, HR = 1.06, 95% CI 1.04, 1.09), hypertension (HR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.26, 2.30) and cerebrovascular disease (HR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.37, 2.32) were also significantly associated with the risk of Parkinson's disease. Conclusions Hearing loss correlates with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease in the elderly. Further studies are needed to confirm whether hearing loss could be a non‐motor feature of Parkinson's disease.
ISSN:1351-5101
1468-1331
DOI:10.1111/ene.12378