117 Even more striking is the prevalence of hearing

loss in this population. A large population-based study found that 90% of people aged 80–92 had some level of hearing loss.118 Results from the 90+ Study showed that 72% of the participants had significant hearing loss, vision loss, or both.119 As cognitive decline and dementia are very common in the oldest-old (as described above), it has been suggested that sensory disabilities play a role in cognitive functions of the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical very old. For instance, greater hearing loss was associated with the severity of cognitive dysfunction in a dose-response manner, in both sellekchem demented patients and normal controls.120 However, hearing and vision losses may “mechanically” interfere in cognitive

performances during neuropsychological evaluations, and result in false-positive classification of impaired performances as dementia. Gussekloo et al. reported that although both hearing impairment (prevalence Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 85%) and visual impairment (prevalence 59%) were associated with global cognitive impairment, only visual impairments were also associated with poorer scores on memory and cognitive speed, as measured with Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical visually presented cognitive tests.116 This suggests practical disadvantage of sensory impairment during cognitive assessments. In order to compensate for

vision and hearing loss when assessing the oldest-old, using their experience in the 90+ Study, Brumback-Peltz et al. suggested some standardized changes in administration methods.29 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical These changes include providing amplified auditory and visual stimuli, and modifying common neuropsychological tests to include large type-face cards that are presented simultaneously with auditory tasks, spoken in a loud, clear voice.29 On the other hand, some studies suggest that sensory loss, especially vision impairment, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is truly biologically associated with cognitive decline. It has been shown that poor vision Carfilzomib precedes dementia,121 and vision impairment predicts cognitive decline,122 even when evaluated using the blind version of MMSE.123 An underlying biological mechanism for this association is suggested by several lines of evidence: AD patients often have retinal nerve degenerative changes,124 caused by reduced numbers of ganglion cells and axons125,126 and retinal amyloid plaques accumulation.127 In http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Imatinib-Mesylate.html addition, diabetic retinopathy has been associated with cognitive decline.128 Several studies further suggested that treatment of specific visual disorders could alleviate cognitive decline,121,129,130 although caution must be applied when interpreting the treatment effect as “causative.