Women aged 65 and over suffer less total or partial deafness.
- 10 million people have hearing problems in France, or 16% of the French population.
- The repercussions of this handicap on daily life are numerous.
Finally some good news on the health front at the end of 2021! According to a new study published in the journal Aging and Health Research, women aged 65 and over suffer from far fewer hearing problems than before.
An overall decrease in hearing problems…
First positive observation of the researchers, who looked at American statistics: the worries related to deafness are decreasing. In 2008, 16.3% of American seniors reported severe hearing loss, up from 14.8% in 2017. “Reducing hearing loss among Americans has important implications for our society,” welcomes the author of the research, Dr. Esme Fuller-Thomson (Institute of Life Course and Aging; University of Toronto). “Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic problems in older people. It can have a negative impact on their health and quality of life,” he adds.
… But not in men
A total of 5.4 million seniors were included in the cohort. Everyone was asked to answer the following question: “Are you deaf or do you have serious difficulty hearing?” After analyzing the responses, the report “is interesting, because we found that the hearing improvements mainly affect women”, continues ZhiDi Deng, co-author of the research.
Over the past decade, the likelihood of severe hearing loss has decreased by 10% in women, while it has increased by 2% in men. A pattern that is confirmed in all the age groups studied (65 to 74 years, 75 to 84 years and 85 years or more).
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