Sensory impairment, activities of daily living, and multimorbidity in middle-aged and older adults: evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.
Dual sensory impairment alone predicts new multimorbidity over long-term follow-up
Sensory impairment, activities of daily living, and multimorbidity in middle-aged and older adults: evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study.
To examine the longitudinal associations between sensory impairment and multimorbidity among middle-aged and older adults in China, and to explore whether activities of daily living (activities of daily living) mediate these associations.
This study was designed as a longitudinal cohort study.
long-term, only dual sensory impairment still raised risk of new multimorbidity
In the repeated-measures generalized estimating equations analysis, visual impairment, hearing impairment, and dual sensory impairment were each associated with higher odds of multimorbidity across survey waves after adjustment for covariates and survey wave (visual impairment: OR = 1.538, 95% CI: 1.426-1.658; hearing impairment: OR = 1.421, 95% CI: 1.231-1.641; dual sensory impairment: OR = 2.115, 95% CI: 1.888-2.370).
In fixed-time longitudinal analyses, all impairment types predicted incident multimorbidity over 2011-2015 (visual impairment: OR = 1.381, 95% CI: 1.172-1.627; hearing impairment: OR = 1.380, 95% CI: 1.017-1.872; dual sensory impairment: OR = 1.412, 95% CI: 1.063-1.875).
Sensory impairment is significantly associated with multimorbidity among middle-aged and older Chinese adults, with dual sensory impairment showing the most persistent long-term effect.
activities of daily living decline may represent a potential indirect pathway linking dual sensory impairment to subsequent multimorbidity.
These findings highlight the importance of integrated sensory screening and functional maintenance interventions, particularly for individuals with dual sensory impairment.