Purpose

To estimate the nationwide prevalence of self-reported serious vision impairment (SVI), serious hearing impairment (SHI), and serious dual sensory impairment (DSI; i.e., concomitant SVI and SHI) and to characterize their associations with self-reported cognitive, independent living, self-care, and ambulatory difficulties.

Design

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide cross-sectional survey administered by the United States Census Bureau.

Participants

The 2011–2015 ACS sample contains data on 7 210 535 individuals 45 years of age or older.

Methods

Descriptive statistics for each of the 4 mutually exclusive sensory impairment categories no sensory impairment (NSI), SVI, SHI, and serious DSI were calculated using the weighted sample. Adjusted odds ratios using several logistic regressions were calculated using the unweighted sample to measure the magnitude of associations between sensory impairment status and the outcome difficulties.

Main Outcome Measures

Self-reported cognitive, independent living, self-care, and ambulatory difficulty.

Results

Among individuals 45 years of age or older, the estimated nationwide prevalence of self-reported SVI alone is 2.8%, that of SHI alone is 6.0%, and that of serious DSI is 1.6%. The prevalence of each sensory impairment increases with age. A greater proportion of American Indians or Alaskan Natives experience SVI (4.8%), SHI (8.5%), and serious DSI (3.7%) than any other race or ethnic group (P < 0.001). Individuals reporting serious DSI are more likely to report cognitive impairment, independent living difficulty, self-care difficulty, and difficulty ambulating than individuals with NSI across all age groups (all P < 0.001). Furthermore, serious DSI is associated with greater cognitive and functional difficulties than SVI or SHI alone, and SVI alone has a greater association with cognitive and functional difficulties than SHI alone.

Conclusions

The nationwide prevalence of self-reported serious sensory impairment increases with age and is distributed unequally among different racial and ethnic groups. Any sensory impairment is associated with greater cognitive and functional difficulties than NSI. Additionally, serious DSI is associated with greater difficulties than SVI or SHI alone, and SVI alone is more serious than SHI alone in each of the 4 cognitive and functional difficulties.

中文翻译：

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全国范围内自我报告的严重感觉障碍的患病率及其与自我报告的认知和功能困难的关系

目的

评估全国范围内自我报告的严重视力障碍（SVI），严重听力障碍（SHI）和严重双重感觉障碍（DSI；即，伴随的SVI和SHI）的患病率，并将其与自我报告的认知，独立生活，自我保健和门诊困难。

设计

美国社区调查（ACS）是由美国人口普查局管理的全国性横断面调查。

参加者

2011–2015 ACS样本包含有关4515岁或以上的7 210 535个人的数据。

方法

使用加权样本计算了4种互斥的感觉障碍类别中的每一个的描述性统计数据，没有感觉障碍（NSI），SVI，SHI和严重DSI。使用未加权样本计算使用几项逻辑回归的调整后的优势比，以测量感觉障碍状态与结果困难之间的关联程度。

主要观察指标

自我报告的认知，独立生活，自我护理和门诊困难。

结果

在45岁或以上的个人中，估计全国范围内仅自我报告的SVI患病率为2.8％，仅SHI的患病率为6.0％，严重DSI的患病率为1.6％。每种感觉障碍的患病率随年龄增长而增加。与其他种族或族裔群体相比，美洲印第安人或阿拉斯加土著人经历SVI（4.8％），SHI（8.5％）和严重DSI（3.7％）的比例更高（P <0.001）。与所有年龄段的NSI患者相比，报告严重DSI的患者更容易报告认知障碍，独立生活困难，自我护理困难和移动困难（所有P<0.001）。此外，严重的DSI比单独的SVI或SHI与更大的认知和功能困难相关，并且单独的SVI比单独的SHI与更大的认知和功能困难相关。

结论

自我报告的严重感觉障碍在全国范围内的患病率随年龄增长而增加，并且在不同种族和族裔群体中分布不均。与NSI相比，任何感觉障碍都与更大的认知和功能障碍相关。此外，严重的DSI较单独的SVI或SHI带来更大的困难，而在4种认知和功能性困难中，单独的SVI比单独的SHI更为严重。