“When the paper first appeared, it seemed to confirm a widely held belief – that hearing loss is associated with developing dementia, and using hearing aids can help to reduce risk – about which the scientific evidence has been mixed, Blustein, the hearing loss researcher, told Retraction Watch. In her view, public health messaging and media coverage of the question has been “misleading.”
The findings were picked up quickly and disseminated among the community of people following the question of hearing loss and dementia, she said. “I don’t think people are necessarily aware of retractions.”
Another pull quote:
“Most notably, he found that hearing aid use did not correspond to a lower rate of dementia for people with hearing loss, as the authors reported. He found the opposite: among people with hearing loss, the dementia rate was higher for those using hearing aids.”
In context, I would be careful taking this conclusion at face value quite yet, though it does seem intuitive, just as the other one was.
“About 250 healthy older adults came from a long-term study of heart health … 739 people were newly recruited. . . . Participants recruited from the heart-health study had more risk factors for developing dementia, including being older and having faster rates of cognitive decline than those from the general community.
In the main analysis of all study participants, the researchers saw no difference in the rate of change in cognitive functioning between people who received the hearing aids and those who didn’t.
However, when the analysis focused on people from the heart-health study, who had a higher risk of dementia, the benefit of the hearing aids was substantial. Those who received hearing aids had an almost 50% reduction in the rate of cognitive decline.”
“We should have followed up’: Lancet journal retracts article on hearing aids and dementia after prodding”
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/01/04/we-should-have-follow...
“When the paper first appeared, it seemed to confirm a widely held belief – that hearing loss is associated with developing dementia, and using hearing aids can help to reduce risk – about which the scientific evidence has been mixed, Blustein, the hearing loss researcher, told Retraction Watch. In her view, public health messaging and media coverage of the question has been “misleading.”
The findings were picked up quickly and disseminated among the community of people following the question of hearing loss and dementia, she said. “I don’t think people are necessarily aware of retractions.”
Another pull quote:
“Most notably, he found that hearing aid use did not correspond to a lower rate of dementia for people with hearing loss, as the authors reported. He found the opposite: among people with hearing loss, the dementia rate was higher for those using hearing aids.”