- The largest clinical trial to date investigated the impact that hearing aids had on reducing cognitive decline.
- Researchers found a 48% reduction in risk among participants at a higher risk of developing dementia.
- The results add to a growing body of research studying the link between hearing loss and cognitive decline.
The National Institute on Aging reports that every three seconds, someone in the world develops dementia — a collection of diseases affecting the brain, causing
The most common
There are various reasons a person may get dementia, and there are also a number of risk factors for dementia. One of those is hearing loss.
Previous studies have
Now, researchers from the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) study reported their findings from the largest clinical trial to investigate whether a hearing loss treatment intervention can reduce a person’s risk for cognitive decline.
Scientists found participants in a higher-risk subgroup slowed cognitive decline by 48% when using a
This study was recently published in
The ACHIEVE study is a randomized trial of participants ages 70 to 84 with untreated mild to moderate hearing loss and no substantial cognitive impairment. The study was conducted at four sites in the U.S.
A total of 977 people were recruited for the study. About 740 of them were healthy community volunteers newly recruited to the study. About 240 were participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (
According to researchers, participants in the ARIC group had more risk factors for cognitive decline, lower baseline cognitive scores, and a faster rate of three-year cognitive decline during the study than the others.
One portion of participants received a three-year intervention that included…
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