Zhongguo quanke yixue (Jan 2024)
Association of Tooth Loss with Hearing Impairment in Chinese Older Adults Aged 65 Years and Above
Abstract
Background Hearing impairment and tooth loss are common among the elderly and seriously endanger their physical and mental health. However, there are limited studies on the correlation of tooth loss, denture use with hearing impairment in the elderly. Objective To explore the correlation of tooth loss with hearing impairment among Chinese older adults aged 65 years and above. Methods In January 2023, 15 161 eligible older adults aged 65 years and above were selected as the study subjects in the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). With hearing impairment as the outcome variable, the number of natural teeth as the explanatory variable, sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health status information as covariates, multivariate Logistic regression model was used to analyze the effect of tooth loss on hearing impairment, and subgroup analyses of age, gender, activities of daily living abilities and denture use were conducted. Results Among the 15 161 subjects, 3 655 (24.11%), 2 355 (15.53%), 4 008 (26.44%) and 5 143 (33.92%) older adults were with teeth number of≥20, 10-19, 1-9 and 0, respectively, and 6 148 (40.55%) had hearing impairment. The results of the multivariate Logistic regression model after adjusting for confounders showed that compared to those with teeth number≥20, older adults with teeth number of 10-19, 1-9 and 0 had higher risk of hearing impairment, with an OR (95%CI) of 1.31 (1.08-1.58), 1.57 (1.32-1.86) and 1.97 (1.65-2.36), respectively. The results of the stratified analysis showed that the association between teeth number and hearing impairment was more significant in older adults aged ≥80 years and those without denture use (P<0.05) . Conclusion Tooth loss was associated with increased risk of hearing impairment in Chinese older adults, and those who were older and do not use dentures are at higher risk for hearing impairment.
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