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Scientific Oral Presentation

Otology/Neurotology

Effect of Cochlear Implant on Dementia: A Large Database Study

Monday, October 19, 2026
1:18 PM - 1:24 PM PT
Location: 511 A-C

    Co-Author(s)

  • Kunal A. Koka, BS

    Medical Student
    Penn State College of Medicine
    Hershey, PA, United States

  • ZO

    Ziad H. Obideen, n/a

    Medical Student
    Penn State College of Medicine
    Hummelstown, PA, United States

  • VK

    Veenadhari Kollipara, n/a

    Medical Student
    Penn State College of Medicine
    Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States

  • FL

    F. Jeffrey F. Lorenz, MD

    Resident Physician, Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
    Penn State University
    Hershey, PA, United States

  • MP

    Marc D. Polanik, MD

    Attending Physician, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
    Penn State Health
    Hummelstown, PA, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Varun S. Patel, MD FACS

    Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
    Milton S. Hershey Medical Center / Penn State College of Medicine
    Palmyra, Pennsylvania, United States

    • Presenting Author(s)

  • Quentin C. Durfee, n/a

    Medical Student
    Penn State College of Medicine
    Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States

Disclosure(s):
Kunal A. Koka, BS:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Ziad H. Obideen, n/a:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Marc D. Polanik, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Varun S. Patel, MD FACS:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Quentin C. Durfee, n/a:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Hearing loss has been associated with an increased risk of dementia. However, these studies have been limited by small sample sizes with no account for bone-anchored hearing assistance (BAHA). Our study aims to characterize the risk of dementia in patients who receive CIs or BAHA.

Methods: The TriNetX Research Network was queried between 2014 and 2024 to identify three major cohorts: patients with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and presbycusis for the CI cohort, patients with bilateral SNHL and presbycusis for the BAHA cohort, and patients with unilateral SNHL who received CIs for the unilateral cohort. Patients who had received a bone-anchored hearing device (BAHA) or revision CI were excluded from the bilateral and unilateral CI cohorts, and patients who received a CI or prior BAHA were excluded from the BAHA cohort. The primary outcome was the risk of dementia in the bilateral CI cohort. Secondary outcomes were the risk of dementia in patients with BAHA or unilateral cohorts. Relative risk ratios (RR) were calculated and are reported with 95% confidence intervals and P values.

Results: Patients were divided into two cohorts: those with CIs (n = 10,741, 0.9%) and those without (n = 1,146,708, 99.1%). After propensity score matching, each cohort had 10,224 patients. Patients with CI had a significantly reduced risk of dementia (2.7%, RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.47-0.64, P < 0.001). Patients with BAHA had an incidence of 3.3% for dementia with no associated decreased risk (P = 0.84). Patients in the BAHA cohort did not have decreased rates of dementia when compared to the CI cohort (3.3% vs 2.7%, P = 0.42, respectively). Comparative analysis between CI in patients with unilateral versus bilateral SNHL was not significant (P = 0.78).

Conclusions: Individuals with bilateral SNHL and presbycusis may benefit from CIs to aid in restoring social engagement and reducing the risk of developing dementia. This is the largest database study to date that demonstrated that individuals with bilateral SNHL and presbycusis had lower rates of dementia when treated with CI, when compared to unilateral SNHL and BAHA.