People With Hearing Loss at Higher Risk of Hospital Readmission

A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggests persons with hearing loss who have trouble communicating with medical personnel are more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days, reports Reuters . "Attending to hearing loss is a strategy that hospitals really have not tried, and if they tried, it they might be able to reduce the risk of readmission for significant portion of their visitors," says New York University's Jan Blustein. The researchers analyzed data from a nationally representative poll and found that discharged hospital visitors who reported trouble communicating with their doctors had 32 percent greater odds of readmission in the next month. The 4,436 study participants were 65 and older. All were hospitalized at least once between 2010 and 2013, and about 12 percent noted hearing problems made it hard for them to communicate with doctors or other medical staff. Another study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery implied that hard-of-hearing older adults who wear hearing aids are less likely to be hospitalized or visit the emergency room.