Maturitas 72 (2012) 146–151 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Maturitas jo ur n al hom ep age : www.elsevier.com/locate/maturitas Hearing handicap, rather than measured hearing impairment, predicts poorer quality of life over 10 years in older adults Bamini Gopinath a , Julie Schneider b , Louise Hickson c,d , Catherine M. McMahon d,e , George Burlutsky a , Stephen R. Leeder b , Paul Mitchell a,∗ a Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia b Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia c School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia d HEARing Co-operative Research Centre, Australia e Centre for Language Sciences, Linguistics Department, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 2 February 2012 Received in revised form 20 March 2012 Accepted 21 March 2012 Keywords: Age-related hearing loss Blue Mountains Hearing Study Blue Mountains Eye Study Hearing handicap Hearing aid Quality of life a b s t r a c t Background: We aimed to determine the prospective association between measured hearing impairment, self-reported hearing handicap and hearing aid use with quality of life. Study design: 829 Blue Mountains Hearing Study participants (≥55 years) were examined between 1997–1999 and 2007–2009. The shortened version of the hearing handicap inventory was administered. Hearing levels were measured using pure-tone audiometry. Quality of life was assessed using the 36-Item Short-Form Survey (SF-36); higher scores reflect better quality of life. Results: Hearing impairment at baseline compared with no impairment was associated with lower mean SF-36 mental composite score 10 years later (multivariable-adjusted p = 0.03). Physical composite score and mean scores for seven of the eight SF-36 domains after 10-year follow-up were significantly lower among participants who self-reported hearing handicap at baseline. Differences in the adjusted means between participants with and without hearing handicap ranged from 2.7 (physical composite score) to 10.4 units (‘role limitations due to physical problems’ domain). Individuals who developed incident hearing impairment compared to those who did not, had adjusted mean scores 9.5- and 7.7-units lower in the ‘role limitation due to physical problems’, and ‘bodily pain’ domains, respectively, at the 10-year follow-up. Hearing aid users versus non-users at baseline showed a 1.82-point (p = 0.03) and 3.32-point (p = 0.01) increase in SF-36 mental composite score and mental health domain over the 10-year follow-up, respectively. Conclusion: Older adults with self-perceived hearing handicap constitute a potential risk group for over- all deterioration in quality of life, while hearing aid use could help improve the well-being of hearing impaired adults. © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The prevalence of hearing impairment increases with age [1]. We showed previously in the Blue Mountains Hearing Study (BMHS) that a third of adults aged 55 years and over had impaired hearing [2,3]. The negative consequences of age-related hearing loss are not limited to an auditory impairment but can include limitations on activity and participation [4], increased reliance on community or family support [5], negative wellbeing [6–8], depres- sive symptoms [9–11] and increased mortality risk [12]. ∗ Corresponding author at: Centre for Vision Research, University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Hawkesbury Rd, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 9845 7960; fax: +61 2 9845 6117. E-mail address: paul mitchell@wmi.usyd.edu.au (P. Mitchell). We also found that bilateral hearing impairment was associ- ated with poorer SF-36 scores in the physical domain, decrease in the physical component score of 1.4 points, p = 0.025, with poorer scores associated with more severe levels of impair- ment (physical composite score: P trend = 0.04, mental composite score: P trend = 0.003). Prospective data on the link between hearing impairment and quality of life (QoL) are limited. The Epidemi- ology of Hearing Loss Study (EHLS) [13], reported that hearing loss had a significant effect on the 36-Item Short-Form Survey (SF-36) ‘social functioning’ domain (p = 0.01) 5 years later. Addi- tionally, an Australian population-based study of 2340 men and 3014 women aged 76–81 years showed that over 6 years, persons with self-reported hearing loss had a 1.79- and 1.75-point decline in SF-36 physical and mental composite scores, respectively [14]. However, these studies did not explore the temporal link between severity of uncorrected hearing impairment and corrected hearing 0378-5122/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2012.03.010