Vision and Hearing Impairments Affecting Activities of Daily Living among Malaysian Older Adults by Gender.

Yee Mang Chan,Nor’ Ain Ab Wahab,Norliza Shamsuddin,Norhafizah Sahril,Muhd Zulfadli Hafiz Ismail,Ying Ying Chan

doi:10.3390/ijerph18126271

Yee Mang Chan, Nor’ Ain Ab Wahab + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126271

Copy DOI

Abstract

Vision and hearing impairments are common among older adults and can cause undesirable health effects. There are limited studies from low- and middle-income countries exploring gender differences between vision and hearing impairment with Activities of Daily Living (ADL) disability. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate gender differences between vision and hearing impairments with ADL disability among older adults in Malaysia. Cross-sectional data from 3977 respondents aged 60 and above from the Malaysian National Health and Morbidity Survey 2018 were used. We used logistic regression analysis to measure associations between vision and hearing impairments with ADL disability, adjusted for covariates. The prevalence of ADL disability was higher among females than males (p < 0.001). The adjusted associations between vision impairment and ADL disability were significant among males (aOR 3.79; 95%CI 2.26, 6.38) and females (aOR 2.66; 95%CI 1.36, 5.21). Similarly, significant adjusted associations were found between hearing impairment and ADL disability among males (aOR 5.76; 95%CI 3.52, 9.40) and females (aOR 3.30; 95%CI 1.17, 9.33). Vision and hearing impairments were significantly associated with ADL disability, with no gender differences identified. Early detection and effective management of vision and hearing impairments are important to prevent ADL disability and improve older adults’ level of independence.

Highlights

Vision and hearing impairments are common and prevalent among older adults [1,2,3].The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately one-third of people above 65 years old are affected by disabling hearing loss in 42 population-based studies [2]
A systematic review found that sensory impairment had significant association with quality of life among older adults, with an increase in the severity of hearing and visual impairment resulting in a lower quality of life [11]
Considering the differences between males and females in proportion to disabled years to be lived, this study aimed to investigate gender differences in the association between vision and hearing impairments with Activities of Daily Living (ADL) disability among older adults in Malaysia

Summary

Introduction

Vision and hearing impairments are common and prevalent among older adults [1,2,3].The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately one-third of people above 65 years old are affected by disabling hearing loss in 42 population-based studies [2]. Vision and hearing impairments are common and prevalent among older adults [1,2,3]. The prevalence of vision impairment among older adults in the Selangor state of Malaysia was 27.3% [4]. More than two-thirds (76.2%) of older adults in the Selangor state of Malaysia had hearing impairment [5]. Both vision and hearing impairments can cause undesirable outcomes on physical and mental health, quality of life and cognitive function among older adults [6,7,8,9,10,11]. Reduced ability of older adults to perform activities of daily living can lead to hazardous situations and poor quality of life

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion