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Sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly Norwegians living at home
BACKGROUND: Hearing and vision impairments increase with age and are common risk factors for functional decline reduced social participation and withdrawal. OBJECTIVE: Describe the hearing and vision of home care patients older than 80 years. METHODS: Ninety-three older adults (80+ years) receiving...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Dove Medical Press
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045259/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24920916 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S58461 |
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author | Haanes, Gro Gade Kirkevold, Marit Horgen, Gunnar Hofoss, Dag Eilertsen, Grethe |
author_facet | Haanes, Gro Gade Kirkevold, Marit Horgen, Gunnar Hofoss, Dag Eilertsen, Grethe |
author_sort | Haanes, Gro Gade |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Hearing and vision impairments increase with age and are common risk factors for functional decline reduced social participation and withdrawal. OBJECTIVE: Describe the hearing and vision of home care patients older than 80 years. METHODS: Ninety-three older adults (80+ years) receiving home care were screened for hearing and vision in their homes. Data were collected using a HEINE Mini 3000(®) Otoscope to examine the eardrum and presence of earwax, an Entomed SA201-IV portable pure-tone audiometer to measure the pure-tone average (PTAV), a logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution chart to measure visual acuity (VA), and the Combined Serious Sensory Impairment interview guide. RESULTS: Slight and moderate hearing impairments were found in 41% and 47% of the population, respectively (mean PTAV =40.4 dB for the better ear), and 40% and 56% had impaired and slightly impaired vision, respectively (mean VA =0.45 for the better eye). The participants’ self-assessments of hearing and vision were only weakly correlated with PTAV and VA values. The visual function was significantly worse in men than in women (P=0.033). Difficulty in performing instrumental activities of daily living because of hearing and vision impairments was experienced by 17% of the participants, whereas 76% experienced no difficulties. When many people were present, 72% of the participants found it difficult to understand speech. Nearly 30% found it tiring to read, and 41% could not read very small print. CONCLUSION: The patients’ self-assessments of their hearing and vision did not correlate strongly with their VA and PTAV scores. Asking the elderly about their overall hearing and vision ability is not sufficient for detecting sensory impairment, and asking more specific questions about what they could not hear and see was not an adequate indicator of the patients’ hearing and vision problems. To detect hearing and vision impairments among elderly home care patients, standardized measurements of their hearing and vision are necessary. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4045259 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Dove Medical Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-40452592014-06-11 Sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly Norwegians living at home Haanes, Gro Gade Kirkevold, Marit Horgen, Gunnar Hofoss, Dag Eilertsen, Grethe J Multidiscip Healthc Original Research BACKGROUND: Hearing and vision impairments increase with age and are common risk factors for functional decline reduced social participation and withdrawal. OBJECTIVE: Describe the hearing and vision of home care patients older than 80 years. METHODS: Ninety-three older adults (80+ years) receiving home care were screened for hearing and vision in their homes. Data were collected using a HEINE Mini 3000(®) Otoscope to examine the eardrum and presence of earwax, an Entomed SA201-IV portable pure-tone audiometer to measure the pure-tone average (PTAV), a logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution chart to measure visual acuity (VA), and the Combined Serious Sensory Impairment interview guide. RESULTS: Slight and moderate hearing impairments were found in 41% and 47% of the population, respectively (mean PTAV =40.4 dB for the better ear), and 40% and 56% had impaired and slightly impaired vision, respectively (mean VA =0.45 for the better eye). The participants’ self-assessments of hearing and vision were only weakly correlated with PTAV and VA values. The visual function was significantly worse in men than in women (P=0.033). Difficulty in performing instrumental activities of daily living because of hearing and vision impairments was experienced by 17% of the participants, whereas 76% experienced no difficulties. When many people were present, 72% of the participants found it difficult to understand speech. Nearly 30% found it tiring to read, and 41% could not read very small print. CONCLUSION: The patients’ self-assessments of their hearing and vision did not correlate strongly with their VA and PTAV scores. Asking the elderly about their overall hearing and vision ability is not sufficient for detecting sensory impairment, and asking more specific questions about what they could not hear and see was not an adequate indicator of the patients’ hearing and vision problems. To detect hearing and vision impairments among elderly home care patients, standardized measurements of their hearing and vision are necessary. Dove Medical Press 2014-05-28 /pmc/articles/PMC4045259/ /pubmed/24920916 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S58461 Text en © 2014 Haanes et al. This work is published by Dove Medical Press Limited, and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. |
spellingShingle | Original Research Haanes, Gro Gade Kirkevold, Marit Horgen, Gunnar Hofoss, Dag Eilertsen, Grethe Sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly Norwegians living at home |
title | Sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly Norwegians living at home |
title_full | Sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly Norwegians living at home |
title_fullStr | Sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly Norwegians living at home |
title_full_unstemmed | Sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly Norwegians living at home |
title_short | Sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly Norwegians living at home |
title_sort | sensory impairments in community health care: a descriptive study of hearing and vision among elderly norwegians living at home |
topic | Original Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045259/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24920916 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S58461 |
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