Association Between Hearing Loss and Depressive Symptoms in Elderly

Introduction: Hearing loss causes difficulties in speech understanding, which leads away from the family and social environment. This isolation may be associated with depressive disorders. Type of study: clinical prospective. Objective: To determine the association between hearing loss and depression in a group of non-institutionalized elderly. Method: The sample consisted of individuals aged over 60 years, undergoing complete audiological evaluation and screening for depressive symptoms with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Results: We evaluated 54 elderly, 26 (48.1%) were female and 28 (51.9%) males. It was found that 39 (72.2%) had hearing thresholds change, and 17 (31.5%) with mild hearing loss and 22 (40.7%) with moderate hearing loss. Were evident signs of depression in 25 elderly (46.3%), and 22 (40.7%) had hearing loss. Data analysis showed an association between hearing loss and depression (p = 0.016). Although not significant (p = 0.18), the association between the degree of hearing loss was positive in relation to the severity of the signs of depression. Conclusion: In elderly people surveyed, there was a strong association between hearing loss and signs of depression and tendency to be an association between the degree of hearing loss and the severity of the signs of depression.