Cardiovascular health and hearing loss (Yévenes-Briones et al., 2026)

Purpose: The relation between cardiovascular health and hearing loss (HL) is unclear. This study examined the association between changes in cardiovascular health and HL in a well-characterized cohort of older adults.Method: The Seniors-ENRICA-2 study is a cohort study of community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years or older. A total of 980 participants were examined longitudinally. Changes in cardiovascular health were evaluated through the Life’s Essential 8 (LE8), which contains eight metrics: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep health, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure. HL was defined as pure-tone average (PTA) > 15 dB-aHL in the better ear for standard frequency (0.5, 1, and 2 kHz), speech frequency (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz), and high frequency (3, 4, and 8 kHz). Analyses were performed with logistic regression models adjusted for the main confounders.Results: Over a median follow-up of 2.38 (SD = 0.27) years and after adjustment for potential confounders, including sociodemographic factors, lifestyle characteristics, cognitive impairment, and comorbidities, an association was observed between an increase of ≥ 4% in the LE8 score and HL in speech frequency (OR [95% confidence interval] = 0.57 [0.37, 0.89]) and high-frequency PTA (0.56 [0.33, 0.96]). No association was observed for the standard PTA. Among all the metrics included, diet and physical activity showed greater impact on the association.Conclusion: Greater adherence to behaviors and health factors such as those included in the LE8 score was associated with lower prevalence of HL in older adults.Supplemental Material S1. Timeline of assessments for cardiovascular health and hearing function.Supplemental Material S2. Metrics for measurement of Life's Essential 8 Score.Supplemental Material S3. Baseline participants' cardiovascular health metrics according to percent of change in the Life Essential 8 score (N = 980).Supplemental Material S4. Association between changes in percent of the Life’s Essential 8 score and hearing loss, by subgroups of participants (N = 980).Yévenes-Briones, H., Caballero, F. F., Rey-Martinez, J., Martinez-Amezcua, P., Banegas, J. R., Guallar-Castillón, P., Rodríguez-Artalejo, F., & Lopez-Garcia, E. (2026). Changes in cardiovascular health and hearing loss in the older population. American Journal of Audiology, 35(1), 132–140. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_AJA-25-00108