AUTHOR=Wei Jin , Zhou Yifan , Abuduxukuer KaiweiSa , Dong Jialong , Wang Chuchu , Shi Wenming , Luo Jianfeng , Peng Qing , Song Yi TITLE=Association of socioeconomic position with sensory impairment among Chinese population: a nationally representative cohort and Mendelian randomization study JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=12 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1371825 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1371825 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=Aims

To investigate the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and sensory impairments (SIs).

Methods

We used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) (2015). Logistic regressions estimated the odds ratio for associations of SEP with SIs. In addition, Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was conducted to assess the causal relationship between them with the inverse variance weighting (IVW) estimator. MR-Egger, simple median, weighted median, maximum likelihood, and robust adjusted profile score were employed for sensitivity analyses.

Results

In the observational survey, we enrolled 19,690 individuals aged 45 and above. SEP was negatively associated with SIs. Adjusted odds of vision impairment were higher for illiterate (1.50; 95%CI: 1.19, 1.91), less than elementary school diploma (1.76; 95%CI: 1.39, 2.25), middle school diploma (1.53; 95%CI: 1.21, 1.93) and lower income (all p < 0.001). The odds of hearing impairment were significantly higher for people with less than a high school diploma than those with a college degree or higher diploma, for agricultural workers than non-agricultural workers, and for people in low-income families (p < 0.01). The MR analysis also showed that occupation was associated with HI (1.04, 95%CI: 1.01, 1.09, p < 0.05) using IVW.

Conclusion

We found that both observational and causal evidence supports the theory that SEP can result in SIs and that timely discovery, targeted management, and education can prevent SIs among middle-aged and older adults.