Objective: To assess the associations of hearing function with the progression of parkinsonism in a population-based prospective study.

Background: Hearing impairment is a common symptom among seniors. Several small clinical studies had reported potential associations between poor hearing and parkinsonism.^1-5

Method: We included those aged 45-85 years, living in one of 10 Canadian provinces in between 2012-2015 (at the baseline). Parkinsonism was defined as a self-report of parkinsonism diagnosis, in combination with a confirmatory positive symptom screen and/or medication use. Dream enactment behavior (DEB/possible RBD) was screened using the single-question RBD1Q. Associations between hearing and parkinsonism at prodromal and pre-existing stages were assessed cross-sectionally via logistic regression.

Results: Of the 30,097 Candians recruited, 3271 participants screened positive for dream enactment behavior (DEB/possible RBD), 112 had a prior parkinsonism diagnosis at baseline and 58 developed new parkinsonism at 3-year follow-up. Although both dream enactment behavior and prodromal/de-novo parkinsonism was associated with hearing complaints at baseline, neither DEB/possible RBD nor parkinsonism was association with hearing impairment via objective measures.

Conclusion: In this population-based study, we found no link between hearing impairment and parkinsonism or dream-enactment behavior.

References: 1. Shetty K, Krishnan S, Thulaseedharan JV, Mohan M, Kishore A. Asymptomatic hearing impairment frequently occurs in early-onset Parkinson’s disease. Mov Disord 2019;12(2):84. 2. Di Mauro R, Di Lazzaro G, Schirinzi T, Martino F, Mercuri NB. Assessment of Hearing Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease: Implications for Differential Diagnosis and Disease Progression. J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 2017;7(396):2161-0460.1000396. 3. Pisani V, Sisto R, Moleti A, et al. An investigation of hearing impairment in de-novo Parkinson’s disease patients: A preliminary study. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2015;21(8):987-991. 4. Lai SW, Liao KF, Lin CL, Lin CC, Sung FC. Hearing loss may be a non‐motor feature of P arkinson’s disease in older people in T aiwan. Eur J Neurol 2014;21(5):752-757. 5. Vitale C, Marcelli V, Allocca R, et al. Hearing impairment in Parkinson’s disease: expanding the nonmotor phenotype. Mov Disord 2012;27(12):1530-1535.

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