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Hearing Aids May Help People Live Longer (news.keckmedicine.org)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by shreddy_scientist@lemmy.ml to c/science@lemmy.ml

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[–] nous@programming.dev 17 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

“We found that adults with hearing loss who regularly used hearing aids had a 24% lower risk of mortality than those who never wore them,” said Janet Choi, MD, MPH, an otolaryngologist with Keck Medicine and lead researcher of the study. “These results are exciting because they suggest that hearing aids may play a protective role in people’s health and prevent early death.”

While the study did not examine why hearing aids may help those who need them live longer, Choi points to recent research linking hearing aid use with lowered levels of depression and dementia. She speculates that the improvements in mental health and cognition that come with improved hearing can promote better overall health, which may improve life span.

This is the classic causation vs correlation problem with these studies. I can also speculate: Did the hearing aid actually do anything at all - or do the people that go to the doctors for a hearing aid also go to the doctors for other problems they might have and so get more treatment for other conditions? That seems far more likely to have a bigger effect IMO.

[–] shreddy_scientist@lemmy.ml 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

As a regular visitor of various specialist, unless you're on an insanely expansive PPO plan (mainly just big corp plans), a hearing doc won't be much help with anything aside from hearing. You'll be told to talk to your GP, unless your insurance covers you making whatever appointments. However, in the bigger picture, it makes WAY more sense an organism which evolved to respond to environmental cues lives longer when it can sense said cues.

[–] nous@programming.dev 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

a hearing doc won’t be much help with anything aside from hearing

Irrelevant to my argument. All I mean is because they go to visit someone for one problem can mean they visit other people for other problems they have - rather than ignoring things and staying at home. And I am not claiming what I said to be the actual cause - at least no more than what the study can claim. There could be many other factors at play here as well. My only point is to not confuse causation for correlation and that these types of studies are almost useless in what they tell us.

Hell, even spurious correlations happen all the time. You cannot use two graphs looking similar to prove any point without a lot of control for all the other variables that might be at play and not go looking at large amounts of data for anything that might seem interesting.

[–] shreddy_scientist@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I like where your heads at, here's the study with a solid summary up front: https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2666-7568%2823%2900232-5

It has a great sample (nearly 10,000 folks with a mean age of 48.6 and having a standard deviation of 18.1) and the findings fortified previous studies. Biggest thing is the fact 12.7% of those with hearing aids rock em, and rocking em is the defining feature in the study. Even when non-consistent users were grouped together with those never having used a hearing aid, the consistent group lived longer. This alone shows going to the doc isn't as impactful as you might to think.

Edit: The work also states more research is required, but the data is looking like something big would have to arise to disprove the construct!