Overview

• In participants 70 or younger at hearing assessment with hearing loss, hearing-aid users had a 61% lower incidence of all-cause dementia than nonusers (hazard ratio 0.39).
• No significant association between hearing-aid use and incident dementia was seen in people assessed after age 70.
• The JAMA Neurology research letter analyzed 2,953 Framingham Heart Study participants followed for up to 20 years, of whom 20% developed dementia and 42% were 70 or younger at assessment.
• Only 17% of individuals with moderate-to-severe hearing loss use hearing aids, highlighting low uptake of treatment.
• Authors note limitations including self-reported, binary measures of device use and potential confounding from differences in education, stroke risk, and healthcare access.