Severe hearing impairment and risk of depression: A national cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Hearing impairment is suggested to be associated with depression in the elderly. The present study evaluated the risk of depression after hearing impairment in all age groups matched by age, sex, income, and region of residence.

Methods

The Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service-National Patient Samples were collected for a period from 2002 to 2013. Hearing impairment was defined as a hearing threshold ≥ 60 dB in both ears or as ≥ 80 dB in one ear and ≥ 40 dB in one ear. Hearing-impaired participants performed a pure tone audiometry test 3 times and an auditory brainstem response threshold test once. The 6,136 hearing-impaired participants were matched 1:4 with 24,544 controls with no reported hearing impairment for age, sex, income, and region of re

SUBMITTER: Kim SY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5481021 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature