SINGAPORE, Feb 23 — More than one-third of older adults in Singapore do not know they have at least one eye disease and one in five have significant hearing loss, but very few are using hearing aids, the Straits Times reported, citing a population study by the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI).

The report said sensory impairments in vision, hearing and smell are widespread among seniors and linked to poorer daily functioning and higher healthcare costs.

According to the study, called the Pioneer study, which tracked 2,636 Chinese, Malay and Indian adults aged 60 to 102 from late 2017 to October 2022, about 20 per cent of participants had some form of triple sensory loss.

The report said seniors with impairments in vision, hearing and smell were three times more likely to struggle with daily activities and incurred four to six times higher healthcare costs.

Professor Ecosse Lamoureux, who leads population health research at SERI, was quoted as saying Singapore’s rapidly ageing population prompted the team to examine how sensory decline relates to outcomes such as cognitive decline and muscle loss.

He told the Straits Times: “Sensory systems age alongside other body systems, whether cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular or brain, and a better understanding could help inform strategies to keep older people healthier for longer.”

Dr Preeti Gupta, a clinician-scientist at SERI and co-investigator on the study, said they were surprised by how widespread sensory impairments were and how few affected seniors were accessing care.

“About 70 per cent of our older population have some form of hearing impairment, including significant hearing loss, and less than 1 per cent of them were using hearing aids,” she was quoted as saying.

The report noted that visual impairment affected about 43 per cent of participants, including cases from cataracts and undercorrected refractive error, despite these being easily treated. Around 27 per cent also had some form of smell impairment.

The study found that many cases of serious eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, were undiagnosed.

Dr Gupta added that nearly 90 per cent of older adults showed signs of poor muscle health, including low grip strength, reduced muscle mass or slow walking speed, and 40 per cent had muscle-wasting sarcopenia.

According to the report, the prevalence of sensory and muscle health issues varied by ethnicity, with Malays and Indians showing higher rates of undiagnosed eye disease and Chinese participants having more early muscle decline.

The researchers told the Straits Times they expect to complete follow-up data by early 2027 to determine whether sensory impairments are a cause of other age-related health problems.