Falls, injuries from falls, health related quality of life and mortality in older adults with vision and hearing impairment-Is there a gender difference?

Background: Vision and hearing decline with age. Loss of these senses is associated with increased risk of falls, injuries from falls, mortality and decreased health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Our objective was to determine if there are gender differences in the associations between visual and hearing impairment and these outcomes. Methods: 2340 men and 3014 women aged 76-81 years from the Health in Men Study and the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health were followed for an average of 6.36 years. Dependent variables were self-reported vision and hearing impairment. Outcome variables were falls, injuries from falls, physical and mental components of HRQOL (SF-36 PCS and MCS) and all-cause mortality. Results: Vision impairment was more common in women and hearing impairment was more common in men. Vision impairment was associated with increased falls risk (odds ratio (OR) = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.35-2.32 in men; OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.44-2.30 in women), injuries from falls (OR 1.69,95% CI = 1.23-2.34 in men, OR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.38-2.33 in women), and mortality (hazard ratio (HR)= 1.44; 95% CI = 1.17-1.77 in men; HR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.24-1.82 in women) and declines in SF-36 PCS and MCS. Hearing impairment was associated with increased falls risk (OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.08-1.78 in men; OR = 1.45,95% CI = 1.08-1.93 in women) and declines in SF-36 PCS and MCS. Overall there were no gender differences in the association between vision and hearing impairment and the outcomes. Conclusion: In men and women aged 76-81 years, there were no gender differences in the association between self-reported vision and hearing impairment and the outcomes of falls, mortality and HRQOL. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.