Demographic and Socioeconomic Disparities in Life Expectancy With Hearing Impairment in the United States.

West, Jessica S; Lynch, Scott M

Demographic and Socioeconomic Disparities in Life Expectancy With Hearing Impairment in the United States.

dc.contributor.author	West, Jessica S
dc.contributor.author	Lynch, Scott M
dc.contributor.editor	Carr, Deborah S
dc.date.accessioned	2023-08-01T20:47:21Z
dc.date.available	2023-08-01T20:47:21Z
dc.date.issued	2021-04
dc.date.updated	2023-08-01T20:47:20Z
dc.description.abstract	Objectives Hearing impairment is one of the most common disabilities among older people, and its prevalence will increase as the U.S. population ages. However, little is known about social disparities in onset or transitions into and out of hearing impairment, nor how these transitions impact years of life to be spent impaired. Method We investigate the number of years an "average" person can expect to live with and without hearing impairment after age 50; sex, race, educational, and regional differences in these expectancies; and the implication of hearing impairment for remaining life expectancy. Bayesian multistate life table methods are applied to 9 waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2014) to investigate social disparities in life expectancy with hearing impairment (n = 20,200) for the general population, people hearing impaired at age 50, and people hearing unimpaired at age 50. Results Men, Hispanics, persons with less educational attainment, and those born in the south can expect to live a larger proportion of their remaining lives hearing impaired. Although transitions from hearing impaired to unimpaired occur, those with some hearing impairment at age 50 can expect to live more years with hearing impairment, and hearing impairment does not shorten remaining life expectancy. Discussion Significant sociodemographic disparities in hearing impaired life expectancy exist. In contrast to past research, we find that hearing impairment does not affect total life expectancy. Future research should consider the consequences of hearing impairment for years to be lived with other age-related and potentially downstream health outcomes.
dc.identifier	5908106
dc.identifier.issn	1079-5014
dc.identifier.issn	1758-5368
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10161/28652
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	Oxford University Press (OUP)
dc.relation.ispartof	The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences
dc.relation.isversionof	10.1093/geronb/gbaa166
dc.subject	Humans
dc.subject	Hearing Loss
dc.subject	Life Expectancy
dc.subject	Adaptation, Psychological
dc.subject	Mental Health
dc.subject	Aged
dc.subject	Aged, 80 and over
dc.subject	Disabled Persons
dc.subject	United States
dc.subject	Female
dc.subject	Male
dc.title	Demographic and Socioeconomic Disparities in Life Expectancy With Hearing Impairment in the United States.
dc.type	Journal article
duke.contributor.orcid	West, Jessica S\|0000-0001-8320-8998
pubs.begin-page	944
pubs.end-page	955
pubs.issue	5
pubs.organisational-group	Duke
pubs.organisational-group	Sanford School of Public Policy
pubs.organisational-group	School of Medicine
pubs.organisational-group	Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	Duke Population Research Institute
pubs.organisational-group	Clinical Science Departments
pubs.organisational-group	Family Medicine and Community Health
pubs.organisational-group	Family Medicine and Community Health, Community Health
pubs.organisational-group	Sociology
pubs.organisational-group	Center for Population Health & Aging
pubs.organisational-group	Duke Population Research Center
pubs.organisational-group	Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	76