Prevalence of concurrent hearing and visual impairment in US adults:: The national health interview survey, 1997-2002

Analysis of data from a nationally representative sample of US adults (n = 195801) showed that concurrent hearing and visual impairment prevalence rates were highest for participants older than 79 years of age (16.6%); a 3-fold increase in age-adjusted rates of reported hearing and visual impairment was observed for Native Americans compared with Asian Americans. Research on preventing concurrent hearing and visual impairment and countering its consequences is warranted, especially in population subgroups, such as Native and older Americans.