title: Vision and hearing impairments are associated with depressive--anxiety syndrome in Italian elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between vision and hearing impairment and depressive-anxiety syndrome in a large population participating in the Faenza Project, Northern Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population consisted of 7389 participants not affected by dementia, 4408 (59.7%), of whom were women, mean age ± standard deviation (±SD) 71.9 (±7.7) years. Information about previous or current psychiatric symptoms, including sleeping and eating habits, non-verbal language and ability in activity of daily living was used to investigate depressive and anxiety syndrome. A semi-structured interview was administered to survey the presence of sensory impairment. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between sensory impairment and depressive-anxiety syndrome estimating Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of vision and hearing impairment was 1.4% and 0.2%, respectively, with an increasing trend in people aged 75+ years (p < 0.001). The prevalence of depressive syndrome was higher among vision-impaired participants (20.2% vs. 9.3%, p < 0.001), especially women (22.9%) and persons aged 75+ years (22.1%). The prevalence of anxiety syndrome was higher in the hearing-impaired group (25.0% vs. 11.0%, p = 0.09). Vision-impaired participants, especially women and participants aged 75+ years had have a twofold higher probability to have depressive syndrome (OR = 2.03, 95% CI = 1.21-3.38), and hearing-impaired individuals showed an increased probability of presenting anxiety syndrome (OR = 2.71, 95% CI = 0.86-8.55), although these results were not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study's findings suggest that sensory impairment in older adults can increase their probability of experiencing depressive and anxiety syndrome. Correction of these deficits could improve the quality of life in this population.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. virginia.bernabei@yahoo.it
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bernabei
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Morini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moretti
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marchiori
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dalmonte
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Ronchi
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rita Atti
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013577:Syndrome; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044465:White People