title: Hearing impairment associated with depression in US adults, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2010.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Depression among hearing impaired US adults has not been studied previously.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence of and risk factors for depression among adults with hearing loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adults aged 18 years or older (N = 18 318) who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2005-2010, a nationally representative sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multistage probability sampling of US population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Depression, assessed by the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scale, and hearing impairment (HI), assessed by self-report and audiometric examination for adults aged 70 years or older.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of moderate to severe depression (PHQ-9 score, ≥10) was 4.9% for individuals reporting excellent hearing, 7.1% for those with good hearing, and 11.4% for participants who reported a little trouble or greater HI. Using excellent hearing as the reference, after adjusting for all covariates, multivariate odds ratios (ORs) for depression were 1.4 (95% CI, 1.1-1.8) for good hearing, 1.7 (1.3-2.2) for a little trouble, 2.4 (1.7-3.2) for moderate trouble, 1.5 (0.9-2.6) for a lot of trouble, and 0.6 (0.1-2.6) for deaf. Moderate HI (defined by better ear pure-tone average of hearing thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz within the range 35- to 49-dB hearing level) was significantly associated with depression among older women (OR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.3-11.3), after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, lifestyle characteristics, and selected health conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After accounting for health conditions and other factors, including trouble seeing, self-reported HI and audiometrically determined HI were significantly associated with depression, particularly in women. Health care professionals should be aware of an increased risk for depression among adults with hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Statistics Program, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Chuan-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Xinzhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Statistics Program, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Howard J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Mary Frances
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Cotch
authors.affiliation: Hearing Loss Prevention Team, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, Ohio.
authors.forename: Christa L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Themann
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland5Office of the President, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: M Roy
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001299:Audiometry; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology