Association of dual sensory impairment with changes in life space: A longitudinal study with two-year follow-up

Objectives: Dual sensory impairment (DSI) of hearing and vision in older adults may limit lifestyle activities of daily living and contribute to a reduced life space. This study aimed to investigate how DSI is associated with specific lifestyle activities and predicts changes in mobility in life space. Study design: Participants comprised 4214 older adults (52.3 % female, mean age 75.8 years) who met the study's inclusion criteria. The participants were divided into three groups according to the number of sensory impairments: (1) no sensory impairment (NSI), (2) single sensory impairment (SSI), and (3) DSI. Main outcome measure: We investigated the association between DSI and specific lifestyle activities at baseline. The Active Mobility Index (AMI) was used to assess life-space. Two years later, the association between DSI and life-space mobility was verified using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: DSI was more likely to have limited people's instrumental activities of daily living and cognitive, social, and productive activities at baseline (P < 0.05). In the adjusted model with potential covariates, people with DSI had a lower life-space score at 2 years than people with NSI (odds ratio [OR] = 1.40, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.01–1.95), but the difference was not significant for SSI (OR = 0.98, 95 % CI: 0.78–1.24). Conclusions: This study suggested that DSI was a factor that limited various activities and narrowed the life-space mobility of older adults. Prevention of DSI may be important for community-dwelling older adults to maintain a more active lifestyle.