目的：本研究的目的是用台灣中老年人族群，以驗證聽力障礙與記憶功能下降趨勢線兩者之間的關係，比較有無聽力障礙對記憶功能年齡軌跡之影響。並探討社會人口學，身體健康狀況和健康相關行為等共變因素，對聽力障礙與記憶功能相關性之影響。
方法：我們使用臺灣地區中老年身心社會生活狀況長期追蹤調查資料庫1996-2007年之資料(Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging, 簡稱TLSA)（TLSA 1996-2007年），受訪者是台灣全國具有代表性之50歲及50歲以上之成人(共5,131人)，以其中4,707名調查可得之受訪者資料，來檢驗研究聽力障礙和記憶功能之間的關聯。統計方法使用多元階層迴歸分析模型，來估計聽力障礙和記憶功能的相關關係，包括當代效應和長期追蹤效應兩部分。
結果：以1996年為基礎點時之聽力障礙的盛行率為18.7% (879/4,707)，並與記憶功能超齡快速減退有關。在完全控制模型中，教育程度低，單身，女性，原住民，自訴健康狀況較差，中風病史以及缺乏身體活動，只能解釋聽障者之記憶功能水平較低，但對記憶減退速率則沒有影響。聽力障礙與年齡的交互作用對記憶功能年齡軌跡造成額外25.6% (-0.0141/-0.0550)的超齡快速減退，這證明了在台灣地區中老年人族群中，聽力障礙因素對記憶減退之影響，具有獨立且超出記憶功能自然老化的顯著效應。
結論：本研究支持假說“聽力障礙是記憶功能超齡快速減退的重要相關危險因素”。社會人口學，身體健康狀況和健康相關行為等共變因素，無法解釋聽力障礙者隨年齡增長記憶功能超齡快速減退的現象，這為未來的研究提供了基礎，未來的研究將探討其他可能的相關機轉，需要更多的前瞻性研究來釐清兩者間的關係。教育程度低，單身，婦女，原住民，健康狀況欠佳，有中風史和缺乏身體活動為記憶力減退的危險因子。因此，普及高中以上教育，避免中風，補充蔬果習慣，服用綜合維生素及增加體力活動，對記憶力下降可能有保護作用，可作為預防失智症政策擬定之參考。

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between hearing impairment and the trajectories of memory decline in the aged population of Taiwan.
METHODS: We examined associations between hearing impairment and memory function in 4,707 respondents of Taiwan Longitudinal Study of Aging (TLSA, 1996-2007), a nationally representative survey of Taiwanese adults ages 50 and over. Multilevel models were used to estimate cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between hearing impairment and memory function.
RESULTS: The prevalence of hearing impairment was 18.93 % (891/4,707) at baseline. Hearing impairment was associated with faster rates of cognitive decline over age. Lower education or being single, a woman, or an Aborigine, as well as reporting poorer health status condition, history of stroke, and physical inactivity only could explain the lower levels of memory function in elder adults, but the rate of change remains unchanged robust after multifactors modelling. We found that hearing impairment*age explained 25.6% (-0.0141/-0.0550) of rates of change in age trajectory of memory function. However, the variance in levels of and linear changes were not statistically different.
CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the hypothesis that hearing impairment is an important correlate of faster memory decline. Our finding that sociodemographic, behavioral and physical conditions fail to explain away the impact of hearing impairment with faster memory decline with age provides basis for future research to examine other mechanisms underlying the link. More prospective research is needed to clarify the relationship.

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