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Background: Among the older adults, hearing impairment is a common problem and may contribute to dementia. Objective: Therefore, we aimed to examine the association between hearing impairment and the risk of dementia among older adults in South Korea. Methods: Using the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Senior Cohort from 2005 to 2019, we collected data of 44,728 patients. Hearing impairment was determined using the national disability registry. Propensity score matching (1:1) was performed to match patients with and without hearing impairment (case: 22,364, control: 22,364). A Cox proportional hazards regression model was built to analyze the association between hearing impairment and dementia. Results: Patients with hearing impairment had a higher risk of dementia than those without hearing impairment (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.28, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.23–1.34). Assessing the degree of disability, both severe (HR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.16–1.35) and mild conditions (HR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.23–1.35) had an increased risk of dementia, respectively. Conclusions: Older patients with hearing impairment exhibit an increased risk of dementia, thereby warranting a new approach to dementia care among these patients regardless of the degree of hearing impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with the development of dementia; however, the association of dementia risk with overall stress-related disorders is less known. This study investigated the association between stress-related disorders and the risk of dementia in a Korean nationwide sample cohort. The data analyzed in this study were acquired from the Korean National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort between 2002 and 2013. Using a 1:3 propensity score matching, 8906 patients with stress-related disorders and 26,718 control participants were included in the analysis. Patients with stress-related disorders had a higher risk of developing dementia after adjusting for covariates (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–1.30) than control participants. Patients with PTSD showed the highest risk of increase (HR = 1.78) than those with other types of stress-related disorders. Patients with stress-related disorders showed the highest and significantly increased risk for Alzheimer's dementia (HR = 1.22, 95% CI 1.04–1.56). These results indicated an association between a history of stress-related disorders and the risk of dementia in the South Korean population. Further research investigating the causal mechanisms is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies investigating the association between migraine and dementia have reported inconsistent findings. This study aimed to evaluate whether patients with migraine have an increased risk of dementia compared to individuals without migraine. Methods: We obtained data from the 2002–2019 Korean National Health Insurance Health Screening Cohort. Non-migraine controls were selected using a 1:1 risk-set matching with a time-dependent propensity score. The main outcome was the development of all-cause dementia, and the secondary outcome was the development of each cause of dementia (Alzheimer's, vascular, mixed or other specified, and unspecified dementia). The incidence rate of dementia was calculated using Poisson regression, and the association between migraine and dementia was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: Among 88,390 participants, 66.1% were female, and the mean baseline age was 55.3 ± 9.4 years. During the study period, dementia cases were identified in 4,800 of the 44,195 patients with migraine and 3,757 of the 44,915 matched controls. The incidence rate of dementia was 139.6 (95% confidence interval [CI], 135.7–143.5) and 107.7 (95% CI, 104.3–111.1) cases per 10,000 person-years in patients with migraine and matched controls, respectively. Patients with migraine had a 1.30 (hazard ratio [HR], 1.30; 95% CI, 1.25–1.35), 1.29 (HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.23–1.35), 1.35 (HR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.19–1.54), 1.36 (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.00–1.83), and 1.30 (HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.17–1.45) times higher risk of developing all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's dementia, vascular dementia, mixed or other specified dementias, and unspecified dementia than their matched controls, respectively. Conclusion: Our results suggest that migraine is associated with an increased risk of subsequent dementia. Further research is warranted to confirm these findings and to reveal the underlying mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate whether diurnal fluctuation in intraocular pressure (IOP) can influence the result of the correlations between IOP-related factors and progression of normal tension glaucoma (NTG). Methods: Glaucoma progression was defined as visual field (VF) progression and changes in the optic disc and/or retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL). Two different methods were used to evaluate the impact of the diurnal fluctuation in IOP. ‘Conventional method’ used in previous studies included all IOP measurements during the follow up time. ‘Time adjusted method’ was used to adjust diurnal fluctuation in IOP with the preferred time. Mean IOP, long term IOP fluctuation and the difference between the lowest and highest IOP were calculated using both methods. Cox regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association between IOP-related factors and NTG progression. Results: One hundred and forty eyes of 140 patients with NTG were included in this study. 41% (58 of 140 eyes) of eyes underwent NTG progression. Long term IOP variation calculated by conventional method was not a significant risk factor for NTG progression (hazard ratio[HR], 0.311; 95% confidence interval[CI], 0.056–1.717; P = 0.180). Long term IOP variation calculated by time adjusted method, however, was related to progression, with an HR of 5.260 (95% CI,1.191–23.232; P = 0.029). Conclusion: Although having the same IOP-related factors, if diurnal fluctuation is included, different results may be found on the relationship between IOP-related factors and NTG progression. Based on our results, diurnal fluctuation in IOP should be considered when IOP-related factors are studied in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]