BACKGROUND Hearing impairment may be a modifiable risk factor for dementia. However, it is unclear how hearing associates with pathologies relevant to dementia in preclinical populations. METHODS Data from 368 cognitively healthy individuals born during 1 week in 1946 (age range 69.2-71.9 years), who underwent structural MRI, 18F-florbetapir positron emission tomography, pure tone audiometry and cognitive testing as part of a neuroscience substudy the MRC National Survey of Health and Development were analysed. The aim of the analysis was to investigate whether pure tone audiometry performance predicted a range of cognitive and imaging outcomes relevant to dementia in older adults. RESULTS There was some evidence that poorer pure tone audiometry performance was associated with lower primary auditory cortex thickness, but no evidence that it predicted in vivo β-amyloid deposition, white matter hyperintensity volume, hippocampal volume or Alzheimer's disease-pattern cortical thickness. A negative association between pure tone audiometry and mini-mental state examination score was observed, but this was no longer evident after excluding a test item assessing repetition of a single phrase. CONCLUSION Pure tone audiometry performance did not predict concurrent β-amyloid deposition, small vessel disease or Alzheimer's disease-pattern neurodegeneration, and had limited impact on cognitive function, in healthy adults aged approximately 70 years.

中文翻译：

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健康老年人的纯音测听和脑病理学。

背景技术听力障碍可能是痴呆症的一种可改变的危险因素。但是，尚不清楚听力如何与临床前人群中与痴呆症相关的病理相关。方法：数据来自于1946年1周内出生的368名认知健康个体（年龄范围69.2-71.9岁），他们接受了结构MRI，18F-florbetapir正电子发射断层扫描，纯音测听和认知测试，作为神经科学研究MRC国家调查的一部分分析了《健康与发展》。该分析的目的是调查纯音测听性能是否可以预测与老年人痴呆症相关的一系列认知和影像结果。结果有一些证据表明，较差的纯音测听性能与较低的初级听觉皮层厚度有关，但尚无证据可预测体内β-淀粉样蛋白沉积，白质高信号量，海马体量或阿尔茨海默氏病模式的皮层厚度。观察到纯音测听法和小精神状态检查分数之间存在负相关性，但是在排除评估单个短语重复性的测试项目后，这种联系不再明显。结论纯音测听性能不能预测约70岁健康成年人同时发生β淀粉样蛋白沉积，小血管疾病或阿尔茨海默氏病模式神经退行性变，并且对认知功能的影响有限。观察到纯音测听和小精神状态检查得分之间存在负相关关系，但是在排除评估单个短语重复的测试项目后，这种联系不再明显。结论纯音测听性能不能预测约70岁健康成年人同时发生β淀粉样蛋白沉积，小血管疾病或阿尔茨海默氏病模式神经退行性变，并且对认知功能的影响有限。观察到纯音测听法和小精神状态检查分数之间存在负相关性，但是在排除评估单个短语重复性的测试项目后，这种联系不再明显。结论纯音测听性能不能预测约70岁健康成年人同时发生β淀粉样蛋白沉积，小血管疾病或阿尔茨海默氏病模式神经退行性变，并且对认知功能的影响有限。