Self-rated Health Status as a Health Degree: The Implications for Hearing Impairment and Self-perception of Hearing Handicap in Elderly People, Manaus, AM, Brazil

Abstract

Self-reported health has been considered a helpful indicator of health conditions and certain outcomes in elderly people. An exploratory, descriptive and cross-sectional cohort study was conducted among an elderly group randomly recruited at UnATI/UEA, Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil. Data was collected by structured questionnaires obtaining socio-demographic information, and the functional evaluation. Subsequently were applied the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly Screening Version (HHIE-S), and The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The aged participants on this research mostly self-rated their health as good or reasonable, with rarer extreme self-assessments. Data from HHIE-S levels of hearing impairment was obtained 27 (33.35%) with normal hearing, 31 (38.75%) light hearing loss, 19 (23.75%) moderate hearing loss; and 3 (3.75%) severe hearing loss. Mean total MMSE score of the study subjects was 23.47 points. Our results show compatibility with lit- erature data, also, it is denoted the health performance superior on these group of elderly.