Association between age-related hearing loss and gait disorders in older fallers.

Introduction: Falls are associated with hearing loss, which might be explained by the onset of gait disorders. The objective of this study was to examine the association between Age-Related Hearing Loss (ARHL) and gait disorders assessed with GAITrite walkway in a population of fallers aged 75 and over while accounting for the vestibular function.

Methods: We examined data from 53 older patients (mean 84.2 ± 5.1 years; 64% women) included after a GAITrite walkway assessment together with hearing and vestibular tests. People with high-frequency hearing loss, higher than 10% of the age and sex-matched population with the worst hearing, composed untimely ARHL group (n = 30), whereas all others had expected ARHL (n = 23). Presbyvestibulopathy was assessed accordingly to Barany Society criteria.

Results: After adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, Mini-Mental State Examination score and presbyvestibulopathy, we found an increase in stride length mean in the untimely ARHL group (p = 0.046), but no between-group differences in stride length variability, cadence or velocity. Untimely ARHL was not associated with presbyvestibulopathy.

Conclusions: Untimely ARHL in older fallers was not associated with gait disorders in the studied population.