Hearing impairment is associated with cognitive decline, brain atrophy and tau pathologyResearch in context
Hui-Fu Wang,
Wei Zhang,
Edmund T. Rolls,
Yuzhu Li,
Linbo Wang,
Ya-Hui Ma,
Jujiao Kang,
Jianfeng Feng,
Jin-Tai Yu,
Wei Cheng
Affiliations
Hui-Fu Wang
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
Wei Zhang
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Edmund T. Rolls
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK; Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Oxford, UK
Yuzhu Li
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Linbo Wang
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Ya-Hui Ma
Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
Jujiao Kang
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Jianfeng Feng
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, China; Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Center, Shanghai, China; Fudan ISTBI—ZJNU Algorithm Centre for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Zhejiang Normal University, Zhejiang, China
Jin-Tai Yu
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Corresponding author. Huashan Hospital, No. 12 Wulumuqi Zhong Road, Shanghai, 200040, China.
Wei Cheng
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, China; Fudan ISTBI—ZJNU Algorithm Centre for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Zhejiang Normal University, Zhejiang, China; Corresponding author. Fudan University, No. 220 Handan Road, Shanghai, 200433, China.
Summary: Background: Hearing impairment was recently identified as the most prominent risk factor for dementia. However, the mechanisms underlying the link between hearing impairment and dementia are still unclear. Methods: We investigated the association of hearing performance with cognitive function, brain structure and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins in cross-sectional, longitudinal, mediation and genetic association analyses across the UK Biobank (N = 165,550), the Chinese Alzheimer's Biomarker and Lifestyle (CABLE, N = 863) study, and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI, N = 1770) database. Findings: Poor hearing performance was associated with worse cognitive function in the UK Biobank and in the CABLE study. Hearing impairment was significantly related to lower volume of temporal cortex, hippocampus, inferior parietal lobe, precuneus, etc., and to lower integrity of white matter (WM) tracts. Furthermore, a higher polygenic risk score (PRS) for hearing impairment was strongly associated with lower cognitive function, lower volume of gray matter, and lower integrity of WM tracts. Moreover, hearing impairment was correlated with a high level of CSF tau protein in the CABLE study and in the ADNI database. Finally, mediation analyses showed that brain atrophy and tau pathology partly mediated the association between hearing impairment and cognitive decline. Interpretation: Hearing impairment is associated with cognitive decline, brain atrophy and tau pathology, and hearing impairment may reflect the risk for cognitive decline and dementia as it is related to bran atrophy and tau accumulation in brain. However, it is necessary to assess the mechanism in future animal studies. Funding: A full list of funding bodies that supported this study can be found in the Acknowledgements section.
