The Associations Between Self-Rated Vision and Hearing and Functional Status in Middle Age

Objectives: To describe the correlations between self-reported visual and hearing impairment and an index of global functional status. Design: Multivariate analyses of functional status based on cross sectional data from Wave 1 (1992) of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) controlling for demographic and socioeconomic status, common chronic conditions and general health status. Participants: 9,744 U.S. community-dwelling persons age 51-61 years Main Outcome Measure: A global index of functional status based on self-reported limitations in 11 activities Results: About 12% of respondents rated their vision or hearing as poor. Controlling for demographic factors, socioeconomic status, medical conditions, and general health status, limitations in both vision and hearing were independently correlated with worse functional status. Controlling for income, wealth, education did not greatly reduce the strength of the associations between vision and hearing impairment and function. Conclusions: Visual and hearing impairment appear to have a significant relationship with overall physical functioning in the elderly.