Study finds men with sight, hearing loss more likely to have obesity

A recent study has found a link between men with sensory loss and obesity.

In particular, hearing loss has been associated with men being less physically active and more likely to have obesity than women.

The results were published last month in the European Journal of Public Health.

“Although women were overall less physically active than men, we found an association between physical inactivity and obesity in men, but not in women. This indicates that, especially in people with vision and hearing losses, exercise and being active has a very important role in preventing obesity for men,” lead author professor Shahina Pardhan, director of the Vision and Eye Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University said in a press release.

The study analyzed data from over 23,000 Spanish adults. It evaluated links between not being physically active and obesity in people with hearing and vision loss. It also examined differences between men and women.

Findings indicated people with hearing loss who are physically inactive had a 1.78 times greater possibility of obesity compared to people without hearing loss. People with vision loss had 1.375 times greater chances of obesity compared to people who didn’t report vision loss. For men with hearing loss, the link between physical activity and obesity was greater. They were more than twice as likely to be obese as women who said they had hearing difficulty. If they had sight loss, physically inactive men had over one and a half times greater risk of obesity compared to women.

The greatest rate of physical inactivity and obesity was seen in people who had sight and hearing loss. The rates were 44.8% and 26.1% respectively. A noticeable connection to physical inactivity and obesity was found in men with vision or hearing difficulties, but not in women, the analysis showed.

Of those surveyed, 11.04% self-reported vision loss, nearly 7% reported hearing loss, and almost 4% reported vision and hearing loss.

“Adults, especially those with sensory losses, should be encouraged to be as physically active as possible but there are obviously challenges, strongly suggesting that intervention and encouragement would play a very important role,” Pardhan said. “An effective strategy to increase the levels of physical activity in this population group would be through targeted intervention programs based on health awareness on the importance of physical activity.”

In Spain, about 62% of adults are overweight while 26% are obese. Obesity affects 37.7% of U.S. adults while overweight affects 32.5%, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.