TABLE 3.
Association of hearing impairment with all-cause mortality by different cognitive function subdomainsa.
| Subdomainsb | Hazard ratio (95% CI) | P-value |
| Orientation | <0.001 | |
| Not impaired | – | |
| Impaired | 1.43 (1.34, 1.52) | |
| Naming foods | <0.001 | |
| Not impaired | – | |
| Impaired | 1.31 (1.23, 1.39) | |
| Registration | <0.001 | |
| Not impaired | – | |
| Impaired | 1.37 (1.29, 1.46) | |
| Attention and calculation | <0.001 | |
| Not impaired | – | |
| Impaired | 1.32 (1.24, 1.40) | |
| Copy figure | <0.001 | |
| Not impaired | – | |
| Impaired | 1.28 (1.18, 1.39) | |
| Delayed recall | <0.001 | |
| Not impaired | – | |
| Impaired | 1.35 (1.27, 1.43) | |
| Speech and language | <0.001 | |
| Not impaired | – | |
| Impaired | 1.46 (1.36, 1.55) |
HI, hearing impairment; CI, confidence interval; MMSE, mini-mental state examination; ADL, activities of daily living.
aMeasured by the MMSE, and each of the seven cognitive subdomains was dichotomized with full score indicating no impairment and all others as impaired.
bEach model was adjusted for all the covariates, including demographics (gender, age, education, residence, and marital status), and smoking status, drinking status, regular leisure activities, ADL, hypertension and diabetes.