Dual sensory impairment among a cohort of older adults living in Ireland: A nested case-control study of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing cohort

Eimear Cleary,Philip Mccallion,Mary Mccarron

doi:10.12688/hrbopenres.12861.1

Eimear Cleary, Philip Mccallion + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.12861.1

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Abstract

Background: Little information is available on the implications of hearing loss, visual impairment and dual sensory impairment among older adults with an intellectual disability (ID) living in Ireland and this paper aims to address the health concerns associated with sensory impairment among this population. Methods: A representative sample of 753 persons aged 40 years and older at all levels of ID and full range of residential circumstances from the Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA) participants were matched with general older population TILDA participants on age, sex and geographic location within Ireland. Demographic data on samples included age, sex, visual impairment (yes/no), hearing impairment (yes/no) and dual sensory impairment (yes/no). For those with intellectual disability (ID) data was also gathered on level of intellectual disability, residence, needing assistance with activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living, self-rated health, loneliness, doctor’s diagnosis of endocrine disease and of dementia and doctor’s report of two or more chronic health conditions. Bivariate analysis of associations between visual, hearing and dual sensory impairment with the measures of physical and mental health was completed and logistic regression analysis to generate adjusted odds ratios for associations between sensory impairment and physical and mental health conditions. Results: As compared to the matched general population participants, in participants with ID dual sensory impairment was more often associated with poor self-rated health, limitations with two or more ADLs, loneliness and multimorbidity. People with ID were 4.4 times more likely to be multimorbid if they were visually impaired compared with an odds ratio of 2.4 in TILDA participants. Conclusion: Previous studies found significant associations between hearing and visual impairment among older populations. Analysis here also suggests the burden of sensory impairment increases both with ID and then with level of ID

Highlights

Age associated degeneration of hearing and vision has been well established (Attebo et al, 1996; Van Eyken et al, 2007; Walling & Dickson, 2012) and the extent of sensory impairment and associations with physical and mental health, cognition and functional activities in an increasingly ageing population is of growing importance
Little information is available on the implications of hearing loss, visual impairment and dual sensory impairment among older adults with an intellectual disability living in Ireland and this paper aims to address the health concerns associated with sensory impairment among this population
Visual impairment was found to be significantly associated with gender with a prevalence of 40.7% among females compared with 27.5% of males (p ≤ .001) Hearing impairment was positively associated with increase in an level of intellectual disability (ID) (p ≤ .001) and level of support in residential setting (p ≤ .001)

Summary

Introduction

Age associated degeneration of hearing and vision has been well established (Attebo et al, 1996; Van Eyken et al, 2007; Walling & Dickson, 2012) and the extent of sensory impairment and associations with physical and mental health, cognition and functional activities in an increasingly ageing population is of growing importance. Compounding the concerns, dual sensory impairment in older populations is associated with depression (Capella-McDonnall, 2005), limitations of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) (Brennan et al, 2005), an increase in risk of mortality (Lee et al, 2007) and poor outcomes of mental health, and physical and social functioning, (Chia et al, 2006; Kiely et al, 2013). Demographic data on samples included age, sex, visual impairment (yes/no), hearing impairment (yes/no) and dual sensory impairment (yes/no) For those with intellectual disability (ID) data was gathered on level of intellectual disability, residence, needing assistance with activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living, self-rated health, loneliness, doctor’s diagnosis of endocrine disease and of dementia and doctor’s report of two or more chronic health conditions. People with ID were 4.4 times more likely to be multimorbid if they were visually impaired compared

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