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ObjectivesAccumulating evidence points to a relationship between hearing function and cognitive ability in later life. However, the exact mechanisms of this relationship are still unclear. This study aimed to characterise latent cognitive trajectories in recall memory and identify their association with subsequent risk of hearing impairment.MethodsWe analysed data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing Wave 1 (2002/03) until Wave 7 (2014/15). The study population consisted of 3,615 adults aged 50+ who participated in the first wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, who had no self-reported hearing impairment in Wave 1, and who underwent a hearing test in Wave 7. Respondents were classified as having hearing impairment if they failed to hear tones quieter than 35 dB HL in the better ear.ResultsThe trajectories of recall memory scores were grouped using latent class growth mixture modelling and were related to the presence of hearing impairment in Wave 7. Models estimating 1-class through 5-class recall memory trajectories were compared and the best-fitting models were 4-class trajectories. The different recall memory trajectories represent different starting points and mean of the memory scores. Compared to respondents with the highest recall memory trajectory, other trajectories were increasingly likely to develop later hearing impairment.ConclusionsLong-term changes in cognitive ability predict hearing impairment. Further research is required to identify the mechanisms explaining the association between cognitive trajectories and hearing impairment, as well as to determine whether intervention for maintenance of cognitive function also give benefit on hearing function among older adults.

BACKGROUND:Population ageing and air pollution have emerged as two of the most pressing challenges in China. However, little evidence has explored the impact of air pollution on obesity among older adults in China. METHODS:The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study-a nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older Chinese was linked to the air pollution data at the city level. Multilevel logistic models were fitted on obesity status among older people in relation to different air quality measures such as chronic exposures to severities of air pollution and pollutants. RESULTS:Air pollution was positively associated with increased risks of general obesity and abdominal obesity among older adults (N = 4,364) especially for those with disability. The marginal effects of average air quality index (AQI) on obesity suggest that one standard deviation increase in AQI is associated with increased risks of central obesity by 2.8% (95%CI 1.7% 3.9%) and abdominal obesity by 6.2% (95%CI 4.4% 8.0%). The risk of chronic exposures to light (and moderate), heavy and severe pollution on obesity elevated in a graded fashion in line with the level of pollution. Durations of exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 were significantly associated with increased risk of obesity among older people in China. CONCLUSIONS:Chronic exposures to severe air pollution and certain pollutants such as PM2.5 and PM10 raise the risk of obesity among older people in China and the relationships were stronger for those with disability. Future policies that target these factors might provide a promising way of enhancing the physical health of older people.

BACKGROUND:Visual impairment has been associated with lower cognitive ability among older adults, yet little is known about whether improving visual function with cataract surgery would be associated with slower cognitive decline. This study aimed to assess whether trajectories of cognitive decline differed before and after cataract surgery and compare those trajectories between older adults with cataract surgery and without cataract. METHODS AND FINDINGS:Data were drawn from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Wave 1 (2002/03) until Wave 7 (2014/15). The study population consisted of 2,068 individuals who underwent cataract surgery between Wave 2 and Wave 6 as the treatment group and 3,636 individuals with no cataract as the control group. We included only respondents who took part in a minimum three waves. Propensity score matching method was used to match the individuals in the treatment group with those in the control group. After we put an "artificial" intervention point for the individuals in the control group at the point that the matched person has cataract surgery, spline method was used to identify differences in cognitive trajectories pre- and post-cataract surgery. In the treatment group, we found that cataract surgery was positively associated with episodic memory scores after controlling for the potential covariates (β = 4.23, p

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204833.].

Socioeconomic inequalities in health are commonly known to decrease at late age. Yet, it remains unclear whether socioeconomic inequalities in health at late age appear in relation to multimorbidity, particularly in Korea where social support remains unsatisfactory for older people. Using three waves of Korea Health Panel, data of 19,942 observations with repeated measure were constructed to ensure a temporal sequence between three socioeconomic measures (i.e., poverty, employment status, and education) and multimorbidity with a t to t+1 year transition. A multilevel multinomial model was applied to quantify the socioeconomic impact across different age, diseases and disease groups, both separately and in combination. There were associations between socioeconomic position (SEP) and multimorbidity, and increasing trends of socioeconomic inequalities not only with greater number of morbidity but also with age. The latter result was only observed with employment status through mid-to-early old age; i.e., between the 40s (odds ratio (OR) = 2.45, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.08-5.57) and 70s (OR = 3.48, 95%CI: 1.24-9.74). The patterns of socioeconomic inequalities in multimorbidity varied for particular pairs of diseases and were stronger in the disease pairs co-occurring with mental and cardiovascular diseases but weaker in the disease pairs co-occurring with cancer. Accumulation of adversity tended to intensify with increase in number of diseases and older age, though this finding was not consistently supported. The labour market should be encouraged to actively participate in actions to promote healthy aging needs to be complemented by the provision of more generous and universal income support to the elderly in Korea.