The relationship between hearing loss in older adults and depression over 12 years: Findings from the Three‐City prospective cohort study

• Published in: International journal of geriatric psychiatry 2018-12, Vol.33 (12), p.1654-1661
• Main Authors: Cosh, Suzanne, Carriere, Isabelle, Daien, Vincent, Amieva, Helene, Tzourio, Christophe, Delcourt, Cecile, Helmer, Catherine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis of Variance; Cohort analysis; Depressive Disorder - epidemiology; Depressive Disorder - etiology; Depressive Disorder, Major - epidemiology; Diagnosis; Female; France - epidemiology; Geriatric psychiatry; healthy ageing; hearing impairment; Hearing loss; Hearing Loss - psychology; Human health and pathology; Humans; Life Sciences; Logistic Models; Male; Mental depression; mental well‐being; Older people; Population studies; Prospective Studies; Psychiatrics and mental health; Quality of Life; Regression analysis; sensory loss; Sensory Organs
• ISSN: 0885-6230; 1099-1166
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.4968

Objective The present study aims to examine the longitudinal relationship between hearing loss (HL) with depression in older adults over 12 years of follow‐up. Method Eight thousand three hundred forty‐four French community‐dwelling adults aged 65 and above participated in the Three‐City prospective population‐based study. Baseline relationships between self‐reported mild and severe HL with depression—assessed by both the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and by the Centre for Epidemiology Studies Depression scale—were explored using logistic regression analyses. Logistic mixed models assessed whether baseline HL was associated with incident depression diagnosis or symptom onset over 12 years in those who were depression‐free at baseline. Results At baseline, mild and severe HL were associated with depression symptoms as assessed by the CESD (OR = 1.29, 95% CIs 1.14‐1.47; OR = 1.51, 95% CIs 1.22‐1.87; respectively), although only mild HL was significantly related to major depression diagnosis (OR = 1.51, 95% CIs 1.07‐2.12). Over 12 years, mild and severe HL were associated with incident depression as assessed by the CESD in those without depression at baseline (OR = 1.36, 95% CIs 1.15‐1.61; OR = 1.69, 95% CIs 1.15‐2.30; respectively), but was not associated with a major depression diagnosis. Conclusions Both mild and severe thresholds of HL are associated with depression symptoms over time, but not with incident diagnosis of major depression. Improved and ongoing detection of subthreshold depression amongst older adults with HL may improve quality of life for this population.