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Association between age-related hearing loss and gait disorders in older fallers

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Abstract

Introduction

Falls are associated with hearing loss, which might be explained by the onset of gait disorders. The objective of this study was to examine the association between Age-Related Hearing Loss (ARHL) and gait disorders assessed with GAITrite® walkway in a population of fallers aged 75 and over while accounting for the vestibular function.

Methods

We examined data from 53 older patients (mean 84.2 ± 5.1 years; 64% women) included after a GAITrite® walkway assessment together with hearing and vestibular tests. People with high-frequency hearing loss, higher than 10% of the age and sex-matched population with the worst hearing, composed untimely ARHL group (n = 30), whereas all others had expected ARHL (n = 23). Presbyvestibulopathy was assessed accordingly to Barany Society criteria.

Results

After adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, Mini-Mental State Examination score and presbyvestibulopathy, we found an increase in stride length mean in the untimely ARHL group (p = 0.046), but no between-group differences in stride length variability, cadence or velocity. Untimely ARHL was not associated with presbyvestibulopathy.

Conclusions

Untimely ARHL in older fallers was not associated with gait disorders in the studied population.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, SB.

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Acknowledgements

We thank GONZALES MANRUBIO-FREDJ Elias, COUDERC Loïc, CHARRIER Charles for their help in data collection. There was no remuneration for this contribution.

Funding

This study was performed without funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery, CHU of Angers, 49933, Angers, Cedex 9, France

    Antoine Teplitxky & Sophie Boucher

  2. Department of Geriatric Medicine and Memory Clinic, Research Center on Autonomy and Longevity, University Hospital, Angers, France

    Jennifer Gautier, Guillaume Duval & Cédric Annweiler

  3. Department of General Medicine, University Hospital of Angers, 49933, Angers, Cedex 9, France

    Marion Lievre

  4. UNIV ANGERS, UPRES EA 4638, University of Angers, Angers, France

    Guillaume Duval & Cédric Annweiler

  5. UNIV ANGERS, School of MedicineHealth Faculty, University of Angers, Angers, France

    Cédric Annweiler

  6. Gérontopôle Autonomie Longévité des Pays de la Loire, Nantes, France

    Cédric Annweiler

  7. Department of Medical Biophysics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Robarts Research Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Cédric Annweiler

  8. Mitolab Team, UNIV Angers, Mitovasc Institute, CNRS UMR6015, INSERM U1083, Angers, France

    Sophie Boucher

Authors
  1. Antoine Teplitxky
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  2. Jennifer Gautier
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  3. Marion Lievre
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sophie Boucher.

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Conflict of interest

Dr S. Boucher proposed a teaching presentation for Amplifon. The other authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Ethical approval

This observational study was conducted at the University Hospital of Angers, France, after approval by ethics committee (on April 7, 2021) and CNIL declaration n° ar21-0040v0 registered on April 22, 2022.

Informed consent

Patients are informed that their medical data may be retrospectively analyzed for research purposes and that they have the possibility to object to this at any time without any consequences for their medical care.

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Teplitxky, A., Gautier, J., Lievre, M. et al. Association between age-related hearing loss and gait disorders in older fallers. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 785–791 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02350-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02350-w

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