Hearing Aids Could Dramatically Reduce Dementia Risk #shorts

For adults with hearing loss, using hearing aids could reduce the risk of developing dementia by 42%, a new study suggests.

Experts say they hope the findings, published Thursday in the The Lancet Public Health, will convince more people who need a hearing aid to use one.

Study results indicate that people with hearing loss who do not use hearing aids have an overall 1.7% risk of developing dementia. By using a hearing aid, they can reduce their risk to the same level experienced by people who do not have any hearing loss, which is 1.2%.

“The evidence is building that hearing loss may be the most impactful modifiable risk factor for dementia in mid-life, but the effectiveness of hearing aid use on reducing the risk of dementia in the real world has remained unclear,” said researcher Dongshan Zhu, PhD, a professor at China’s Shandong University, in a statement. “Our study provides the best evidence to date to suggest that hearing aids could be a minimally invasive, cost-effective treatment to mitigate the potential impact of hearing loss on dementia.” #dementiaawareness #hearingaids #hearinglossawareness #hearingloss #alzheimer #webmd #shorts