Hearing Loss and Vision Impairment in Older People in Viet Nam: From Screening to Safer Communication, Function and Participation Across Care Settings

AGE-FRIENDLY CARE QUALITY & INTEGRATED CARE

Last reviewed: October 2026

An older person may hear only part of a medication instruction and appear to agree. Another may see the shape of a tablet but not the label. Someone admitted to hospital may seem confused because staff are speaking in a noisy room without realizing that the person's hearing aid is at home. A woman who has stopped attending community activities may be described as “withdrawn” when the real problem is that she can no longer follow conversation or recognize faces clearly.

Hearing loss and vision impairment are often treated as separate sensory problems belonging mainly to ear or eye care. In older-person care, their consequences extend much further. They can affect communication, understanding, medication safety, mobility, falls, cognitive assessment, social participation, confidence and the ability to remain independent. When hearing and vision are both impaired, one sense may no longer compensate effectively for the other.

For Viet Nam, this makes sensory function a quality-of-care issue rather than simply a specialty-care issue. Screening matters, but screening alone is not enough. High-quality care requires a pathway from recognition to assessment, appropriate treatment or rehabilitation, communication adaptation, assistive products, environmental change and continuity when the person moves between hospital, transitional care, home, community services and long-term care.

Sensory impairment is common in later life, but it should not simply be accepted as aging

Hearing and vision both change with age, but clinically important impairment should not automatically be dismissed as “normal aging.”

WHO and the World Health Assembly estimate that around 1.5 billion people globally live with hearing loss. WHO's 2026 fact sheet reports that about 430 million people require rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss and that, among people older than 60 years, more than one quarter are affected by disabling hearing loss. By 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have some degree of hearing loss and more than 700 million may require hearing rehabilitation.

Vision impairment is similarly widespread. WHO estimates that at least 2.2 billion people globally have near or distance vision impairment and that, for at least 1 billion of them, the impairment could have been prevented or remains unaddressed. Most people with vision impairment or blindness are over 50 years of age. Refractive errors and cataract are leading causes globally, while diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration are also important causes of vision impairment.

The practical message is not that everyone will eventually lose hearing or vision. Aging increases risk, but sensory decline is not a reason to stop looking for treatable, correctable or supportable problems. Sometimes the response may be relatively straightforward: updated spectacles, cataract surgery, treatment of an ear condition, appropriately fitted hearing aids or a better communication environment. In other situations the impairment cannot be fully reversed, but rehabilitation, assistive technology and environmental adaptation can still preserve function and participation.

Viet Nam has national evidence of sensory disability, but it should not be mistaken for clinical prevalence

Viet Nam has nationally derived data on sensory disability, but the definitions matter. The Population Change and Family Planning Survey 2021 asked older people about difficulty seeing even when using glasses and difficulty hearing even when using a hearing aid. In the analysis of older persons, functional disability was identified using a relatively severe threshold: the activity was reported as very difficult or impossible to perform.

Using that definition, 5.80% of older people were classified as having vision disability and 5.42% as having hearing disability. The proportions increased sharply with age. Among people aged 80 years and older, 21.63% had vision disability and 21.55% had hearing disability.

These figures are useful, but they are not equivalent to the clinical prevalence of hearing loss or vision impairment. An older person with mild or moderate sensory loss may experience substantial communication or safety difficulties without meeting this functional-disability threshold. Conversely, self-reported functional difficulty is not the same as audiometry, visual-acuity testing or a clinical diagnosis.

The data nevertheless show something important: serious sensory limitation becomes much more common in advanced age in Viet Nam. That matters as health, community and long-term care services increasingly support people in their 80s and beyond and people living with frailty, dementia, multimorbidity and functional dependency.

WHO treats hearing and vision as core parts of integrated older-person care

WHO's Integrated Care for Older People, or ICOPE, approach places hearing and vision among the six domains of intrinsic capacity, alongside cognition, mobility, vitality and psychological capacity. The second edition of the ICOPE handbook, published in 2025, organizes the care pathway around four broad steps: basic assessment, in-depth assessment, development of a personalized care plan, and implementation and monitoring, with a stronger emphasis on what can be done in primary care and community settings.

This changes the question. Instead of asking only “Does this person have an eye disease or hearing loss?”, integrated care also asks “How is this sensory impairment affecting what this person can understand, do and participate in?”

That distinction matters because the same hearing or vision problem may simultaneously affect medication safety, falls, mobility, informed participation in care, cognitive assessment, social participation and everyday activities. Older people experience these as interconnected aspects of one life, even when health systems organize them into different specialties.

International policy has also moved in this direction. In May 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted Resolution WHA78.7, Primary prevention and integrated care for sensory impairments including vision impairment and hearing loss, across the life course. It urges Member States, according to national context and priorities, to integrate comprehensive eye, vision, ear and hearing care into national health plans and primary healthcare, strengthen systematic screening and early intervention, expand workforce capacity and improve access to assistive technologies, rehabilitation and inclusive communication.

The resolution does not itself create a new legal obligation under Vietnamese domestic law. It does, however, reinforce an important international direction: sensory care should increasingly be integrated into health systems rather than left isolated within specialist services.

Viet Nam now has a practical community screening foundation

Decision No. 1976/QĐ-BYT of 1 July 2026 provides an important professional foundation for sensory screening among older people at home and in the community.

The guidance incorporates both vision and hearing into initial assessment of intrinsic capacity. For vision, it includes structured assessment of distance and near vision using E charts. For hearing, it provides for pure-tone audiometry where equipment is available and a structured whisper test when an audiometer is unavailable. It also establishes a process in which frontline personnel can conduct basic screening and results can be sent to commune-level health stations for further assessment and care planning.

This is particularly relevant in settings where specialist equipment and services may not be immediately available close to where older people live. Basic screening can help identify previously unnoticed sensory problems earlier.

But one distinction must remain clear:

Screening is not diagnosis.

An older person who does poorly on a whisper test has not automatically received a definitive audiological diagnosis. A person who fails a vision screen has not automatically been diagnosed with cataract, glaucoma, macular degeneration or another eye disease. A positive screen should instead lead to the next appropriate step: closer assessment, identification of possible causes, referral where needed and an individualized plan.

Decision 1976 is professional guidance for older-person care at home and in the community; it should not be mistaken for a comprehensive national specialist guideline covering the diagnosis and treatment of every hearing or eye disorder. The more important quality question is therefore not simply “Did we perform the screen?” but “What happened after the screen identified a problem?”

Hearing loss can become a patient-safety problem through communication failure

Hearing loss affects much more than conversation. A hospital discharge provides a simple example. A clinician explains that one medicine has been stopped, another must be taken twice daily and the patient should seek help if dizziness develops. The older person hears most—but not all, of the explanation and politely nods. No one checks understanding because the person appears cooperative.

Communication has occurred, but safe communication may not have occurred.

The risk becomes greater when staff speak quickly, speak from behind the person, communicate in a noisy room or assume that simply speaking louder will solve the problem. WHO's primary ear and hearing care guidance emphasizes practical approaches such as gaining the person's attention, facing them while speaking, reducing background noise, communicating clearly and supporting spoken information with visual, written or other accessible communication where appropriate. Hearing devices also need to be available and functioning if the person normally depends on them.

These practices may look simple, but in healthcare they can become patient-safety interventions.

Vision impairment can turn ordinary healthcare tasks into hazards

Vision is central to the way people navigate services and manage care at home. An older person may need to read medication labels, distinguish tablets, interpret appointment information, find the bathroom at night, recognize a step or change in floor level, operate a medical device or identify a change in a wound.

A written instruction is therefore not genuinely accessible simply because it has been handed to the patient. If the person cannot read it, the communication process has not achieved its purpose.

The physical environment matters as well. Poor lighting, glare, low contrast, unfamiliar layouts and obstacles can turn a manageable visual limitation into a safety risk. A home that was easy to navigate ten years earlier may become hazardous after vision deteriorates.

WHO's integrated people-centered approach to eye care emphasizes not only diagnosis and treatment of eye disease but also appropriate refractive correction, rehabilitation and assistive products when impairment cannot be fully reversed. The implication for older-person care is straightforward: sensory function and environmental design need to be considered together.

Sensory impairment can complicate cognitive assessment

One of the most important risks in older-person care is misinterpretation. An older person who cannot hear an examiner's questions may answer incorrectly, respond slowly or appear inattentive. Someone who cannot see a visual task may perform poorly on an assessment that assumes adequate vision.

This does not mean sensory impairment explains every cognitive problem. Dementia, delirium, hearing loss and vision impairment can coexist, particularly in advanced age. But sensory function should be considered before poor communication or poor test performance is attributed entirely to cognition.

Before interpreting an older person as confused, inattentive or unable to follow instructions, a care team should ask some basic questions: Can the person hear us adequately? Can they see what they are being asked to see? Are their usual spectacles or hearing devices available, functioning and being used?

These questions may change the interpretation of the entire encounter.

Hearing and vision matter for informed participation in care

Sensory impairment does not remove an older person's right to understand and participate in healthcare decisions.

Under Viet Nam's Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15, patients have the right to receive information and explanation about their health condition and healthcare services and to choose methods of medical examination and treatment after appropriate information, explanation and consultation.

For an older person with hearing or vision impairment, making those rights meaningful in practice may require adapting how information is communicated. Background noise may need to be reduced, lighting improved, the speaker positioned where the person can see them, larger print used, information provided in another accessible form or additional time allowed.

Sensory impairment alone should not be treated as evidence that a person cannot understand, express preferences or participate in a decision. Someone who does not hear a question is not necessarily unable to understand the issue being discussed. Someone who cannot read standard-size print is not necessarily unable to participate in consent.

Good care adapts communication before making assumptions about the person's understanding or ability to participate.

Sensory impairment and disability status are related, but not interchangeable

Viet Nam's disability law provides another important distinction. The 2026 consolidated text of the Law on Persons with Disabilities, No. 24/VBHN-VPQH, recognizes forms of disability that include hearing/speech disability and vision disability and provides a legal framework covering healthcare, rehabilitation, accessibility, community inclusion, information and other rights.

A clinical finding of hearing loss or vision impairment does not, however, by itself establish a formally determined disability status or level of disability under Vietnamese law. These are governed by the applicable legal framework and procedures.

This distinction helps avoid two errors. Significant sensory impairment should not be dismissed simply as old age, but neither should every mild age-related hearing or vision problem automatically be described as a formally determined disability.

Clinically, care should respond to the person's functional needs regardless of whether formal disability status has been determined. Where specific legal disability rights, classifications or entitlements are involved, the applicable Vietnamese legal requirements should be followed.

Accessibility is increasingly part of quality

The disability framework also reinforces a broader understanding of accessibility. The Law on Persons with Disabilities addresses access to healthcare, rehabilitation, public facilities, information, communication and other services and requires healthcare facilities to provide examination and treatment measures appropriate to people with disabilities within the scope of the law.

In August 2026, the Ministry of Health issued Decision No. 2559/QĐ-BYT approving the overall plan for implementation of the Program to Support Persons with Disabilities during 2026–2030. The plan includes measures related to healthcare access, rehabilitation, assistive devices, accessible facilities and information and communication technologies.

These policies apply to people with disabilities more broadly and should not be interpreted as placing every older person with age-related hearing or vision impairment within the formal disability framework. Decision 2559 is also an implementation plan, not a separate clinical guideline for sensory care.

Together, however, these developments reinforce an important quality principle: accessibility is more than physical access. A person may be able to enter a healthcare facility but still be unable to understand its spoken information, read its instructions or navigate its environment safely.

Assistive products are part of care only when they work for the person

Spectacles and hearing devices can transform function, but owning a device is not the same as having an effectively addressed sensory need.

Spectacles may have an outdated prescription, be dirty, damaged or unavailable when needed. A hearing aid may have an exhausted battery, fit poorly, be uncomfortable or remain unused because the person does not know how to operate or maintain it. Dexterity and cognition also matter: small controls can be difficult for someone with arthritis or tremor, and a person with cognitive impairment may need help maintaining a device.

Quality care therefore asks more than “Does this person have glasses or hearing aids?” It asks whether those devices are usable, available when needed and actually improving the person's function.

This becomes particularly important during transitions. An older person may arrive at hospital without a hearing aid because the family fears losing it. Spectacles may remain at home. Someone transferred to rehabilitation may arrive without replacement batteries. A resident returning to long-term care may have developed a new sensory problem that was not communicated to the receiving team.

A sensory-aware handover should therefore include baseline hearing and vision, usual assistive products, the communication approach that works best, whether help with devices is required and whether sensory function changed during the episode of care. If a person needs a hearing aid to understand healthcare instructions, it is functionally part of the care plan. If spectacles are essential for safe walking, they are also part of falls prevention.

Assistive products should not disappear at transitions simply because they are not medicines.

Hospitals need sensory-aware routines and environments

Hospitals can unintentionally amplify sensory difficulties. Background alarms, multiple conversations, shared rooms and unfamiliar staff can make hearing more difficult, while acute illness, fatigue and poor sleep add further strain. Vision may be challenged by unfamiliar layouts, glare, low contrast, poor nighttime lighting or the absence of the person's usual spectacles.

A sensory-aware hospital does not require an eye or hearing specialist to assess every older patient. It requires basic sensory awareness to be built into routine care.

Staff should know whether the person normally uses spectacles or hearing devices and, where possible, ensure that these are accessible and functioning. Communication should take place under conditions that give the person the best chance of understanding. Important information should be readable, and call bells and essential objects should be easy to locate and use.

The same principles belong in workforce competency. For hearing loss, staff should know to attract the person's attention, face them, reduce unnecessary background noise, communicate clearly and allow adequate time. For vision impairment, staff may need to identify themselves verbally, explain an unfamiliar environment, keep frequently used objects in consistent locations, ensure adequate lighting and provide information with appropriate print size and contrast.

These competencies are relevant not only to physicians and nurses. Rehabilitation professionals, social workers, community workers, home-care staff, long-term care workers and family caregivers all shape how accessible care becomes.

Hearing and vision can affect medication safety

Sensory impairment also enters the medication pathway. A person with low vision may struggle to distinguish similar packaging, read labels or identify dose instructions. Someone with hearing loss may miss a verbal change in a prescription. The risk can become particularly important during transitions, when medicines are added, stopped or changed.

Medication reconciliation should therefore include a practical question: Can this person actually access, understand and manage the medication information being provided?

Adaptation may involve larger print, clearer labeling, a simplified schedule, pill organizers where appropriate, teach-back, accessible digital information or caregiver involvement—with the person's agreement and according to actual need.

The aim is not to assume that a person with sensory impairment cannot manage medicines independently. It is to make independence safe and realistic.

Vision impairment belongs inside falls prevention

Vision affects navigation, contrast perception, depth perception and recognition of hazards. When an older person experiences recurrent falls, mobility and medication assessment are important, but vision should also be considered.

Appropriate refractive correction, better lighting, improved contrast, removal of hazards, treatment of relevant eye conditions and suitable assistive products can reduce some of the functional consequences of vision impairment. Vision interventions should therefore be considered within the person's broader mobility and falls-prevention plan rather than as an isolated technical intervention.

The goal is not simply better visual acuity. It is safer function.

Hearing and vision also shape psychological well-being and participation

Sensory impairment can change social life long before someone describes themselves as deaf, blind or severely impaired. A person may withdraw from group conversations because following several speakers becomes exhausting. Restaurants or community activities may become frustrating because background noise overwhelms speech. Someone with reduced vision may stop going out because unfamiliar environments no longer feel safe. Family members may misinterpret these changes as disinterest or disengagement.

WHO highlights the effects of unaddressed hearing loss and vision impairment on communication, participation and quality of life. Recent longitudinal evidence also continues to show associations with psychological outcomes.

A 2026 harmonized analysis of 72,177 participants across six international aging cohorts found that hearing impairment, vision impairment and dual sensory impairment were each associated with increased risk of incident depression, with dual sensory impairment showing the strongest pooled association. The size of these associations varied across populations and settings.

This is observational evidence and does not mean that sensory impairment inevitably causes depression or dementia. It does, however, reinforce the importance of treating hearing and vision as part of participation, connection and functional well-being rather than as peripheral technical problems.

Dual sensory impairment deserves particular attention

Hearing and vision impairment do not always occur separately. When both are affected, one sense may no longer compensate effectively for the other. A person with hearing loss may depend heavily on facial cues and lip movements; declining vision can remove that support. Someone with poor vision may depend more heavily on verbal orientation, which becomes less useful if hearing also deteriorates.

A systematic review of care for older adults with concurrent hearing and vision impairment found limited and fragmented evidence despite substantial care needs. Strategies described in the literature included adapted communication, education and training of health professionals, assistive technology support, systematic recording of sensory function and integrated multidisciplinary health and rehabilitation services.

The practical implication is simple:

Do not assume that solving one sensory problem solves communication.

An older person with dual sensory impairment may need a coordinated combination of communication adaptation, environmental modification, assistive technology, rehabilitation and caregiver support.

Home and community care should connect screening with real follow-up

Decision 1976 creates a realistic entry point for community sensory care in Viet Nam. Basic hearing and vision screening can identify older people who may need more detailed assessment, but the value of screening depends on what happens next.

A person with an abnormal vision screen may need refraction, cataract assessment or evaluation for another eye condition. Someone with hearing difficulty may need ear examination, audiological assessment, treatment of a reversible ear problem, hearing rehabilitation or specialist review. The appropriate next step will depend on the presentation.

Implementation therefore needs practical answers to questions such as who makes the referral, who checks whether it was completed and what happens when cost, distance, transport or caregiver availability becomes a barrier.

A screening program without an effective next step can produce coverage statistics without producing better sensory function.

The aim should be a screen-to-care pathway, not screening coverage alone.

Sudden sensory change is different from routine age-related decline

Many hearing and vision problems develop gradually. Sudden or rapidly changing symptoms deserve a different response.

Sudden or rapidly progressive hearing loss, particularly when unilateral or accompanied by other significant ear, neurological or vestibular symptoms, requires timely clinical assessment rather than routine community follow-up. Likewise, sudden or rapidly worsening vision loss, significant eye trauma, or acute painful or inflammatory eye symptoms may require urgent assessment depending on the presentation.

WHO's final primary ear and hearing care manual and integrated eye-care resources support clear referral pathways when a condition exceeds the scope of frontline care.

Community and long-term care workers do not need to diagnose every sensory disorder. They need to recognize when the ordinary pathway is not enough.

Long-term care should make sensory function visible every day

Sensory needs can easily disappear in long-term care because medicines, continence, nutrition, mobility and other immediate needs attract more attention. Yet hearing and vision influence all of these activities.

A resident may appear not to follow transfer instructions because they cannot hear them clearly. Someone may eat less because they cannot see food well against the plate. A person living with dementia and hearing loss may become more distressed in a noisy environment. Another resident may stop joining social activities because conversation has become too difficult to follow.

Quality long-term care therefore needs to know what the person can hear and see, which devices they use, what communication approach works, whether they can manage the devices themselves and whether the environment helps or hinders them. Those answers should influence the daily care plan.

Environmental adaptation is part of this work. Better lighting, appropriate contrast, removal of hazards and clearer visual information can reduce the functional impact of vision impairment. Reduced background noise, good visibility of speakers' faces, quieter conversation spaces and appropriate visual information can make communication easier for people with hearing loss.

A well-designed environment does not cure sensory impairment. It reduces the barriers that turn impairment into greater dependency or exclusion.

Assistive products need maintenance and reassessment

Sensory support can include spectacles, magnifiers, hearing aids, cochlear or other hearing implants in appropriately selected people, amplification devices, visual-alert systems and accessibility features on digital devices. The intervention still has to fit the person.

A sophisticated device that someone cannot operate may provide less real-world benefit than a simpler one used consistently. Dexterity, cognition, affordability, maintenance, batteries or charging, family support and the person's preferences all matter.

Good implementation therefore includes follow-up. Is the device being used? Is it functioning? Does it still match the person's needs? Has sensory function changed? Does the older person or caregiver need additional support?

Providing a device once is not the same as providing effective sensory rehabilitation.

Sensory care should be measured as a quality issue

Healthcare organizations often measure what is easiest to count, and screening completion is relatively easy to measure. It is useful, but it is not enough.

A stronger framework can examine whether people with positive screens receive appropriate follow-up; whether spectacles and hearing devices are available and usable; whether communication needs are documented; whether information is provided in accessible forms; whether sensory needs are included in discharge or transfer information; and whether relevant environmental barriers are identified and addressed.

Outcomes may also include communication difficulties, medication-management problems, falls, participation in activities, patient experience and caregiver burden where sensory impairment contributes to those outcomes.

Not every service needs a large sensory-care dashboard. A small number of meaningful indicators can still reveal whether screening is translating into safer, more accessible and more person-centered care.

A practical sensory-quality framework for Viet Nam is possible now

Viet Nam already has many of the building blocks required to improve sensory-aware older-person care. WHO ICOPE provides the integrated older-person framework. Decision 1976 provides practical community screening approaches. WHA78.7 strengthens the international policy direction toward integrated sensory care. WHO's primary ear and hearing care and integrated eye-care resources provide established technical frameworks for services, while Viet Nam's medical and disability legislation provides relevant rights, accessibility and inclusion frameworks within their respective legal scopes.

These elements can be connected through a practical quality pathway. Case finding and screening should identify sensory difficulties before severe disability becomes obvious. Assessment and referral should determine whether treatment, rehabilitation or specialist care is needed. Communication adaptation should make healthcare understandable and accessible, while assistive products and environmental modification should reduce the functional consequences of impairment.

Medication and safety processes should consider whether the person can hear instructions, see information and recognize hazards. Transition management should ensure that sensory status, assistive products and communication needs follow the person across settings. Workforce and caregiver capability should make sensory-aware communication part of routine older-person care, and measurement and learning should show whether identification is actually leading to better safety, function and participation.

The value would not come from creating a separate sensory program around every older person. It would come from making hearing and vision visible within the care the person is already receiving.

From sensory screening to safer participation

For an older person, better sensory care may mean understanding the doctor without repeatedly pretending to hear. It may mean reading a medication label, recognizing a step, joining a conversation at dinner, walking safely through an unfamiliar corridor or seeing the face of someone explaining an important decision.

For families, it may mean recognizing that withdrawal is not necessarily disinterest and that apparent confusion may sometimes be a communication problem. For hospitals, it means treating sensory access as part of patient safety. For home and community services, it means connecting screening with meaningful follow-up. For long-term care, it means ensuring that sensory impairment does not quietly become greater isolation, dependency or avoidable risk.

As Viet Nam builds a more age-friendly and integrated system of care for older people, the question should therefore not simply be “Did we screen this person's hearing and vision?”

A more meaningful question is: “Did we make sure this person could hear, see, understand, move and participate as safely and independently as possible—and did that support continue across every care setting?”

That is the difference between identifying sensory impairment and building high-quality sensory-aware care.

References

1. World Health Organization. Integrated care for older people (ICOPE): guidance for person-centred assessment and pathways in primary care. 2nd ed. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025.

2. World Health Organization. Primary ear and hearing care: training manual. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023.

3. World Health Organization. Eye care in health systems: guide for action. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022.

4. World Health Organization. Package of eye care interventions. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022.

5. World Health Organization. Deafness and hearing loss. Fact sheet. Updated 3 March 2026.

6. World Health Organization. Blindness and vision impairment. Fact sheet. Updated 10 February 2026.

7. World Health Assembly. Resolution WHA78.7. Primary prevention and integrated care for sensory impairments including vision impairment and hearing loss, across the life course. 27 May 2025.

8. General Statistics Office of Viet Nam and United Nations Population Fund. Older Persons in Viet Nam: An Analysis of the Population Change and Family Planning Survey 2021. Ha Noi; 2022.

9. National Assembly of Viet Nam. Law No. 15/2023/QH15 on Medical Examination and Treatment. 9 January 2023.

10. Office of the National Assembly of Viet Nam. Consolidated Document No. 24/VBHN-VPQH: Law on Persons with Disabilities. 26 February 2026.

11. Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Decision No. 1976/QĐ-BYT issuing professional guidance on care for older people at home and in the community. 1 July 2026.

12. Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Decision No. 2559/QĐ-BYT approving the Overall Plan for implementation of the Program to Support Persons with Disabilities for 2026–2030. 11 August 2026.

13. Jaiswal A, Gupta S, Paramasivam A, Santhakumaran S, Holzhey P, Dupont P, Wittich W. Continuum of Care for Older Adults With Concurrent Hearing and Vision Impairment: A Systematic Review. Innovation in Aging. 2023;7(1):igac076.

14. Guo L, Zhang L, Zhuang Z, Jiang Y, Yue L. Sensory impairment and risk of incident depression in older adults: a harmonized longitudinal analysis of 72,177 individuals across six international cohorts. Frontiers in Public Health. 2026;14:1834248.