Fu Xinxing, Eikelboom Robert H, Liu Bo, Wang Shuo, Jayakody Dona M P
Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Medical School, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2022 Dec 1;13:917276. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.917276. eCollection 2022.
Age-related hearing loss, mental health conditions, and loneliness commonly affect older adults. This study aimed to determine whether untreated hearing loss is independently associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness in tonal language-speaking older adults in China.
Observational, cross-sectional study.
293 older adults (111 males, = 70.33 ± 4.90 years; 182 females, = 69.02 ± 4.08 years) were recruited. All participants completed a pure tone audiometric hearing assessment, and provided information on living arrangements, marital status, leisure activities, tobacco and alcohol use, and medical history. The Mandarin version of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale was used to measure loneliness, and the Mandarin version of the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to assess a range of symptoms common to depression, stress, and anxiety of the participants. The analysis focused on determining the predictors of depression, anxiety, and stress, and the predictors of measures of loneliness.
Multiple stepwise regression analyses revealed that the emotional loneliness ( = 0.303 < 0.001) and living status ( = 0.110, = 0.048) significantly predicted DASS depression scores; emotional loneliness ( = 0.276, < 0.001) and a history of vascular disease ( = 0.148, = 0.009) were significantly related to DASS anxiety scores; emotional loneliness ( = 0.341, < 0.001) and a history of vascular disease ( = 0.129, = 0.019) significantly predicted DASS stress scores. Furthermore, multiple stepwise regression analyses showed that DASS stress scores ( = 0.333, < 0.001), education years ( = -0.126, = 0.020), marriage status ( = 0.122, = 0.024), and a history of vascular disease ( = 0.111, = 0.044) significantly predicted emotional loneliness; four-frequency average hearing loss ( = 0.149, = 0.010) and DASS stress scores ( = 0.123, = 0.034) significantly predicted social loneliness scale; and four-frequency average hearing loss ( = 0.167, = 0.003) and DASS stress scores ( = 0.279, < 0.001) also significantly predicted overall loneliness. There were no significant associations with high-frequency hearing loss.
This study revealed that loneliness has a significant relationship both with hearing loss and aspects of mental health in an older adult Mandarin-speaking population. However, mental health was not significantly associated with hearing loss in this population.
年龄相关性听力损失、心理健康状况和孤独感是老年人常见的问题。本研究旨在确定在中国讲声调语言的老年人中，未经治疗的听力损失是否与抑郁、焦虑、压力和孤独感独立相关。
观察性横断面研究。
招募了293名老年人（男性111名，年龄=70.33±4.90岁；女性182名，年龄=69.02±4.08岁）。所有参与者均完成了纯音听力测定评估，并提供了有关生活安排、婚姻状况、休闲活动、烟酒使用情况及病史的信息。使用中文版的德容·吉尔维尔德孤独感量表来测量孤独感，并用中文版的21项抑郁焦虑压力量表（DASS-21）来评估参与者抑郁、压力和焦虑的一系列常见症状。分析重点在于确定抑郁、焦虑和压力的预测因素以及孤独感测量指标的预测因素。
多重逐步回归分析显示，情感孤独感（=0.303，<0.001）和生活状况（=0.110，=0.048）显著预测了DASS抑郁得分；情感孤独感（=0.276，<0.001）和血管疾病史（=0.148，=0.009）与DASS焦虑得分显著相关；情感孤独感（=0.341，<0.001）和血管疾病史（=0.129，=0.019）显著预测了DASS压力得分。此外，多重逐步回归分析表明，DASS压力得分（=0.333，<0.001）、受教育年限（=-0.126，=0.020）、婚姻状况（=0.122，=0.024）和血管疾病史（=0.111，=0.044）显著预测了情感孤独感；四频率平均听力损失（=0.149，=0.010）和DASS压力得分（=0.123，=0.034）显著预测了社交孤独感量表；四频率平均听力损失（=0.167，=0.003）和DASS压力得分（=0.279，<0.001）也显著预测了总体孤独感。与高频听力损失无显著关联。
本研究表明，在讲普通话的老年人群中，孤独感与听力损失及心理健康方面均存在显著关系。然而，该人群的心理健康与听力损失并无显著关联。
