# The Association Between Sensory Impairment and Adherence to COVID-19 Prevention Measures in the Adult California Health Interview Survey Population

## TL;DR

This study finds that adults with sensory impairments in California were more likely to struggle with social distancing during the pandemic.

## Contribution

The study identifies a specific challenge for individuals with sensory impairments in adhering to social distancing during the pandemic.

## Key findings

- Adults with sensory impairment were 80% more likely not to maintain social distancing.
- No significant differences were found in adherence to other prevention strategies like mask use or vaccination.
- The study highlights the need for tailored strategies to support those with sensory impairments.

## Abstract

This study explores the association between vision/hearing impairment and COVID-19 prevention strategies in the 2020 and 2021 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). This cross-sectional study used data from the 2020 and 2021 CHIS. The exposure of interest was self-reported history of sensory impairment. The outcome of interest was adherence to COVID-19 mitigation strategies defined as obtaining a COVID-19 vaccine, face mask adherence, hand washing, social distancing, and not gathering with non-household members. Logistic regression models examined the association between sensory impairment and adherence to COVID-19 mitigation strategies, controlling for age, sex, race and ethnicity, general health status, and household income. All analyses were weighted according to the CHIS sampling design. With 24,453 California adults representing 29,649,837 people, the weighted prevalence of sensory impairment was 6.1% (1,808,640/29,649,837). The regression revealed that adults with sensory impairment were 80% more likely not to maintain social distancing (odds ratio: 1.80, 95%CI: 1.03–3.13, p = 0.04) compared to those without impairment. No significant differences were found for adherence to other COVID-19 strategies. Individuals with sensory impairment may have increased difficulty with physical distancing due to their underlying impairment. Further studies are needed to explore risk reduction strategies for COVID-19 and the transmission of other infections for those with sensory impairment.