[Association between cerumen impaction, cognitive function and hearing in Japanese elderly].

AIM: In this study we aimed to evaluate the frequency of cerumen impaction in Japanese elderly and clarify the associations between cerumen, cognitive function, and hearing impairment.

METHODS

The subjects enrolleded in this study were participants in the National Institute for Longevity Sciences, Longitudinal Study of Aging (NILS-LSA). The data of 792 community-dwelling participants aged 60 to 88 years old were collected. All had taken the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and had undergone pure tone audiometry (PTA) assessment and video recording of an otoscopic examination. We then analyzed associations between the incidence of the cerumen impaction of better-hearing ear, hearing level and MMSE scores using a general linear model.

RESULTS

Cerumen impaction of the better-hearing ear was observed in 10.7% of all participants. In participants with an MMSE score of less than 24, the frequency of cerumen impaction was 23.3%. Cerumen was significant associated with poorer hearing after adjustment for sex and age (p=0.0001). Cerumen impaction also showed a significant association with a low MMSE score after adjustment for sex, age, hearing level and education (p=0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

The frequency of cerumen impaction in Japanese elderly was estimated to be approximately 10%. The existence of cerumen impaction was associated with poorer hearing level and lower MMSE score.