Can aspirin prevent age-related hearing loss?
Hearing loss associated with ageing is experienced by two-thirds of people over the age of 70 years. Loss of hearing can have a profound effect on a person’s independence and quality of life. There is no known single cause and no known cure.
The ASPREE-Hearing (Aspirin in HEAring Retinal vessels, Inflammatory markers, Neurocognition in older age Groups) study will investigate whether aspirin prevents or reduces age-related hearing loss. ASPREE-Hearing will also study the effect of aspirin on the relationship between hearing loss and changes in thinking and memory.
What participation involved
ASPREE-Hearing participants undertook hearing (audiometry) tests over time, 2 short questionnaires about hearing, retinal photographs (specialised photography of the back of the eye), and thinking and memory exercises (mostly undertaken as part of the main ASPREE study). All tests were free of charge and significant changes in hearing were referred back to your GP for follow-up. Enrolment into this sub-study has closed.
Results will be reported in 2019 to demonstrate whether daily low dose aspirin helped prevent or reduce age-related hearing loss over a three year period.
Will further hearing tests be conducted?
Should further funding become available, additional hearing tests will be undertaken at year five. ASPREE-Hearing participants will be notified. Tests can be conducted in metropolitan and regional areas in our RetCam Vans. Many Melbourne-based participants elected to visit the ASPREE National Coordinating Centre for their hearing tests.
How to find out more about ASPREE-Hearing study:
- Download the ASPREE-Hearing Brochure
- Ring 1800 728 745 (toll free from a landline)
Collaborators:
- Monash University
- National Acoustic Laboratories, Macquarie University
- University of Melbourne
- Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
- University of Tasmania
- Centre for Eye Research Australia Ltd
- Monash Biomedical Imaging Centre
- GP Associate Investigators
Funding:
- Monash University
- Deafness Foundation
Updated 23.04.2019