Middle-aged adults with hearing loss have substantially higher health care costs

Much hearing loss comes from exposure to loud noise.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/tjnj-maw040616.php

Public Release: 7-Apr-2016
Middle-aged adults with hearing loss have substantially higher health care costs
The JAMA Network Journals

In a study published online by JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Annie N. Simpson, Ph.D., of the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, and colleagues compared the costs of health care for a matched group of privately insured individuals with and without a diagnosis of hearing loss.

Age-related hearing loss affects more than 60 percent of U.S. adults older than 70 years; the onset is gradual, with prevalence tripling from the age of 50 years to 60 years. However, the association between hearing loss in older middle-aged adults (age 55-64 years) and the use of health care has not been studied.

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The authors found that individuals with a diagnosis of hearing loss had 33 percent higher health care payments (average, $14,165) during a 1.5-year time period compared to patients without hearing loss (average, $10,629). "This finding indicates that negative health-related effects of hearing loss, a condition that many consider simply an unavoidable result of aging, may manifest earlier than is generally recognized and may affect use of health care across the continuum of care.

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