Table 1. General characteristics of the studies used in the meta-analysis without the race/color/ethnicity approach.
(N = 17).
| Characteristic | N | % |
|---|---|---|
| Study design | ||
| Cohort | 6 | 35.3 |
| Cross-sectional | 10 | 58.8 |
| Case-control | 1 | 5.9 |
| Geographic region | ||
| North America | 9 | 52.9 |
| Asia | 8 | 47.1 |
| Diagnosis of hearing loss | ||
| Normal hearing level ≤ 25 dB | 15 | 88.2 |
| Normal hearing level ≤ 40 dB | 1 | 5.9 |
| Normal hearing level ≤ 20 dB | 1 | 5.9 |
| Diagnosis of cognitive decline | ||
| Mini-Mental State Examination | 10 | 58.8 |
| Other tests * | 7 | 41.2 |
| Sample size ** | ||
| ≤ 313 | 9 | 52.94 |
| > 313 | 8 | 47.06 |
| Methodological quality | ||
| Moderate: 5–6 points | 1 | 5.9 |
| High: 7–9 points | 16 | 91.4 |
| Year of publication | ||
| ≤ 2020 | 10 | 58.8 |
| > 2020 | 7 | 41.2 |
| Funding | ||
| Yes | 12 | 70.6 |
| No | 2 | 11.8 |
| Not informed | 3 | 17.6 |
* Other tests used to diagnose cognitive decline can be found in Chart 2 in S1 File.
** Median as cut-off point.