TOPLINE: 

People who received outpatient vision rehabilitation and had hearing impairment were older and in poorer physical health than those with normal hearing. They were also less likely to achieve meaningful functional gains from the rehabilitation.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a cohort of patients who received vision rehabilitation to determine the association between hearing impairment and the likelihood of achieving a clinically meaningful functional improvement following vision rehabilitation.
• They analyzed data of 611 patients (mean age, 73 years; 66% women) who had available self-reported hearing status, of whom 358 reported normal hearing and 253 reported hearing impairment; 407 completed post-rehabilitation follow-up assessments conducted 6-9 months after initial evaluation.
• Visual function was assessed at baseline using the Activity Inventory questionnaire; researchers used the answers to identify each participant's goals for daily life and asked them to rate how difficult the tasks were.
• The primary outcome was improvement in general capability measured using the Activity Inventory before and after rehabilitation; vision rehabilitation was considered effective if the improvement reached a minimum clinically important difference.

TAKEAWAY:

• Participants with self‑reported hearing impairment were older and had poorer physical health than those with normal hearing at baseline (P < .001 and P = .002, respectively).
• Although general ability at baseline did not differ significantly between the groups, individuals with hearing impairment were 42% less likely to achieve a minimum clinically important difference following vision rehabilitation than those with normal hearing (odds ratio, 0.58; P = .03).
• Among patients with hearing impairment, 44% used hearing aids, yet similar proportions reached a meaningful improvement in the Activity Inventory score (23% with hearing aids vs 22% without), suggesting that the use of hearing aids was not associated with a greater likelihood of benefit.

IN PRACTICE:

"These results emphasize the importance of addressing hearing-related barriers within vision rehabilitation care and tailoring treatment for individuals with dual sensory impairment," the researchers reported.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Anas Obaideen, MBBS, MPH, of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It was published online March 12 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

LIMITATIONS: 

Hearing impairment was assessed through self-report rather than objective audiometric testing. The dataset was collected more than a decade ago, and vision rehabilitation practices have likely changed since then. Follow-up data were not available for all participants.

DISCLOSURES:

The study received support from the National Eye Institute, the International Collaborators Award from the Research to Prevent Blindness foundation and the Reader's Digest Partners for Sight Foundation. The authors disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.