Vision Impairment and Hearing Loss Among Community-Dwelling Older Americans: Implications for Health and Functioning

We investigated the health, activity, and social participation of people aged 70 years or older with vision impairment, hearing loss, or both. We examined the 1994 Second Supplement on Aging to determine the health and activities of these 3 groups compared with those without sensory loss. We calcula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican journal of public health (1971) Vol. 94; no. 5; pp. 823 - 829
Main Authors Crews, John E, Campbell, Vincent A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC Am Public Health Assoc 01.05.2004
American Public Health Association
American Journal of Public Health 2004
Subjects
Activities of Daily Living
Aged
Aging
Biological and medical sciences
Blindness
Cataracts
Disability
Disability Evaluation
Ear, auditive nerve, cochleovestibular tract, facial nerve: diseases, semeiology
Ears & hearing
Elder care
Eyes & eyesight
Female
Geriatric Assessment
Health risk assessment
Health Surveys
Hearing aids
Hearing Disorders - epidemiology
Hearing loss
Hearing protection
Humans
Investigations
Longitudinal studies
Male
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
Mortality
Non tumoral diseases
Odds Ratio
Older people
Ophthalmology
Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology
Population
Population Surveillance
Prevention and actions
Public health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Quality of life
Research and Practice
United States - epidemiology
Variables
Vision disorders
Vision Disorders - epidemiology
Visual impairment
United States
North America
America
United States > US
Human
Prevalence
Vision disorder
Auditory disorder
Epidemiology
Functional capacity
Hearing loss
Disability
Eye disease
Blindness
ENT disease
Autonomy
Elderly
Age
Community
Public health
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Summary:We investigated the health, activity, and social participation of people aged 70 years or older with vision impairment, hearing loss, or both. We examined the 1994 Second Supplement on Aging to determine the health and activities of these 3 groups compared with those without sensory loss. We calculated odds ratios and classified variables according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework. Older people with only hearing loss reported disparities in health, activities, and social roles; those with only vision impairment reported greater disparities; and those with both reported the greatest disparities. A hierarchical pattern emerged as impairments predicted consistent disparities in activities and social participation. This population's patterns of health and activities have public health implications.
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Peer Reviewed
Human Participant Protection…No protocol was needed for this study. The National Center for Health Statistics’ National Health Interview Survey, 1994: Second Supplement on Aging, a publicly available data set, contains no individual identifiers.
Requests for reprints should be sent to John E. Crews, DPA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, F-35, Atlanta, GA 30333 (e-mail: jcrews@cdc.gov).
Contributors…J. E. Crews planned the study, conducted the literature review, and wrote most of the article. V. A. Campbell planned the analytical design, conducted the analysis, and wrote portions of the article.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.94.5.823