Does Sensory Function Decline Independently or Concomitantly with Age? Data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging

Table 3

Number of impaired sensory systems in study participants by age and Health ABC score.

Number of impairments	Sensory system	Age categories
		60–69 ()		70–79 ()		80+ ()
		Observed; (%)	Expected; (%)	Observed; (%)	Expected; (%)	Observed; (%)	Expected; (%)
Any	Hearing (Hear)	25/68; (36.8)		60/78; (76.9)		84/87; (97.0)
	Vestibular (Vest)	11/68; (16.2)		14/78; (17.9)		27/87; (31.0)
	Vision (Vis)	3/68; (4.4)		5/78; (6.4)		20/87; (23.0)
	Proprioceptive (Pro)	24/68; (35.3)		25/78; (32.1)		30/87; (34.5)
Two	Vest + Vis	0/68; (0)	<1/68; (0.71)	1/78; (1.3)	<1/78; (1.1)	0/87; (0)	6.2/87; (7.1)
	Vest + Prop	3/68; (4.4)	3.9/68; (5.7)	0/78; (0)	4.5/78; (5.7)	1/87; (1.1)	9.3/87; (10.7)
	Vis + Prop	1/68; (1.5)	1.1/68; (1.6)	1/78; (1.3)	1.6/78; (2.1)	0/87; (0)	6.9/87; (7.9)
	Vest + Hear	3/68; (4.4)	4.1/68; (6.0)	6/78; (7.7)	11/78; (13.8)	15/87; (17.2)	26/87; (30.1)
	Vis + Hear	0/68; (0)	1.1/68; (1.6)	1/78; (1.3)	3.8/78; (4.9)	8/87; (9.2)	19/87; (22.3)
	Prop + Hear	5/68; (7.4)	8.8/68; (13.0)	17/78; (21.8)	19/78; (24.7)	14/87; (16.1)	29/87; (33.5)
Three	Vest+ Vis + Prop	0/68; (0)	<1/68; (0.25)	0/78; (0)	<1/78; (0.36)	0/87; (0)	2.1/87; (2.5)
	Vest + Vis + Hear	0/68; (0)	<1/68; (0.26)	0/78; (0)	<1/78; (0.88)	3/87; (3.4)	6/87; (6.9)
	Vis + Prop + Hear	0/68; (0)	<1/68; (0.57)	2/78; (2.6)	1.2/78; (1.6)	7/87; (8.0)	6.7/87; (7.7)
	Prop + Hear + Vest	2/68; (2.9)	1.4/68; (2.1)	3/78; (3.8)	3.4/78; (4.4)	6/87; (6.9)	9.0/87; (10.4)
Four	Vest + Vis + Prop + Hear	0/68; (0)	<1/68; (0.09)	0/78; (0)	<1/78; (0.28)	2/87; (2.3)	2.1/87; (2.4)

Greater than or equal to Health ABC score of 2.9 marked as †; below cutoff marked as #.
Single or double asterisk signifies observed and expected probabilities being significantly different using Chi-squared analysis () ().