Maryland: People at risk of dementia can cut their risk of the disease in half with the help of a hearing aid, according to a new study.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dementia is a decline in brain function that can range from mild impairment to dementia.
According to Dr. Frank Lynn, the study’s principal investigator and a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the number of people with dementia is increasing over time.
He said that research conducted more than a decade ago has determined that hearing loss is one of the major causes of dementia. But it was not clear whether the risks could be reduced with the help of hearing aids.
According to Dr. Franklin, this study, published in the journal Lancet, is the first to attempt to answer this question.
For the study, researchers examined more than 3,000 people from two groups (healthy community volunteers and elderly people). These groups belonged to the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, an observational study of cardiovascular health.
According to the study, participants were either part of a control group that was given tips to prevent the chronic disease or part of a group that was treated by an audiologist and hearing aids.
The researchers examined the groups every six months for three years and finally scored them on a large neurocognitive test.
According to the study, there was no decline in thinking ability due to hearing aids in the total group. But when the researchers looked at older people, who were at higher risk, they saw a marked reduction in mental frailty.
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