Correction: Hearing impairment and dementia: cause, catalyst or consequence?

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Correction: Journal of Neurology (2025) 272:402 10.1007/s00415-025-13140-x

In the original version of this article, in Table 1, the three superscript ‘a’ markings in the ‘Study’ column was missing, so the table legend currently references a non-existent superscript ‘a’ and the last word of the table legend, ‘disease’ was spelt incorrectly as ‘diseas’.

The correct Table 1 should have appeared as shown below.Table 1. Large longitudinal studies reporting associations between objective hearing impairment and dementiaStudyYearCohort descriptionFollow-upCovariatesDementia risk (Hazard ratio)Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging [13] (USA)2011N = 639 (360 male; 52 Black, 580 White, 7 other), age range 36–9058 incident dementia cases11.9 years (median)Age, sex, raceEducation, smokingDiabetes, hypertension1.27 (1.06–1.50) per 10 dB hearing lossHealth, Aging and Body Composition Study [18] (USA)^a^2017N = 1,889 (893 male; 625 Black, 1,264 White), mean age 75.5229 incident dementia cases9 yearsStudy siteAge, sex, raceEducation, smokingDiabetes, hypertension, stroke1.14 (1.03–1.26) per 10 dB hearing lossHealth, Aging and Body Composition Study [16] (USA)^a^2019N = 1,810 (872 male; 630 Black), mean age 77.4336 incident dementia cases10 yearsAge, sex, raceEducation, alcohol use, exercise, smokingCardio/cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension1.25 (1.01–1.55)Health, Aging and Body Composition Study [17] (USA)^a^2022N = 2,061 (989 male; 776 Black), mean age 74.0223 incident dementia cases^b^10 yearsStudy siteAge, sex, raceEducation, living alone, marital statusBMI, diabetes, hypertension, stroke1·99 (1·47–2·68)Mayo Clinic Study of Aging [14] (USA)2022N = 1,200 (593 male; 1,193 non-Hispanic or Latino, 1,177 White), mean age 76207 incident dementia cases7 years (mean)Age, sexEducation, smokingApoE4, diabetes, hypertensionHearing rehabilitation (hearing aid / cochlear implant)0.99 (0.89–1.12) per 10 dB hearing lossHearing Examinations in Southern Denmark Database [65] (Denmark)2024N= 573,088 (48% male), mean age 60.823,023 incident dementia cases8.6 years (mean)Calendar yearAge, sex, country of originCohabiting status, education, income, occupation, other socioeconomic variablesCardiometabolic diseases (diabetes, stroke, IHD, heart failure)All dementia: 1.07 (1.04–1.11)AD:1.11 (1.05–1.18)Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study 212025N = 2,946^c^ (1,195 male; 637 Black), mean age 74.9239 incident dementia cases6.5 years (median)Age, sex, raceEducation, smokingApoE4, BMI, diabetes, hypertension, stroke1.67 (1.18–2.38)The Table summarizes published studies meeting criteria for inclusion in the 2024 Lancet Commission report on dementia prevention, intervention and care [1], as follows: a cohort of at least 500 cognitively healthy people followed for at least 5 years; included incident dementia as an outcome; adjusted for age and cardiovascular risk factors; used pure-tone audiometry to measure hearing; included a hazard ratio estimate. Restricting the presentation to these rigorous, high quality studies omits a large number of other studies investigating the association of hearing impairment and dementia (see text); the table also excludes one study included in the 2024 Lancet Commission report, as hearing loss in the follow-up cohort was assessed using a whisper test, rather than pure-tone audiometry [15]. a likely participant overlap between these studies, which draw from the same wider cohort [16–18]; b hearing loss with and without depressive symptoms groups were combined; c sub-cohort who had pure-tone audiometry; AD Alzheimer’s disease, ApoE4 apolipoprotein E4 allele genetic status, BMI body mass index, IHD ischaemic heart disease