Dual sensory loss and depressive symptoms: the importance of hearing, daily functioning, and activity engagement
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Date
2013-12
Authors
Kiely, Kim
Anstey, Kaarin Jane
Luszcz, Mary Alice
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Frontiers
Rights
Copyright © 2013 Kiely, Anstey and Luszcz.
Rights Holder
Kiely, Anstey and Luszcz.
Abstract
Background: The association between dual sensory loss (DSL) and mental health has
been well established. However, most studies have relied on self-report data and lacked measures
that would enable researchers to examine causal pathways between DSL and depression. This study
seeks to extend this research by examining the effects of DSL on mental health, and identify
factors that explain the longitudinal associations between sensory loss and depressive symptoms.
Methods: Piecewise linear-mixed models were used to analyze 16-years of longitudinal data collected
on up to five occasions from 1611 adults (51% men) aged between 65 and 103 years. Depressive
symptoms were assessed by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D). Vision loss
(VL) was defined by corrected visual acuity >0.3 logMAR in the better eye, blindness, or glaucoma.
Hearing loss (HL) was defined by pure-tone average (PTA) >25 dB in the better hearing ear. Analyses
were adjusted for socio-demographics, medical conditions, lifestyle behaviors, activities of daily
living (ADLs), cognitive function, and social engagement.
Results: Unadjusted models indicated that higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with
HL (B = 1.16, SE = 0.33) and DSL (B = 2.15, SE = 0.39) but not VL. Greater rates of change in
depressive symptoms were also evident after the onset of HL (B = 0.16, SE = 0.06, p < 0.01) and DSL
(B = 0.30, SE = 0.09, p < 0.01). The associations between depressive symptoms and sensory loss were
explained by difficulties with ADLs, and social engagement.
Conclusion: Vision and HL are highly prevalent among older adults and their co-occurrence may
compound their respective impacts on health, functioning, and activity engagement, thereby exerting
strong effects on the mental health and wellbeing of those affected. There is therefore a need for
rehabilitation programs to be sensitive to the combined effects of
sensory loss on individuals.
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Keywords
Dual sensory loss, Aged, Mental health
Citation
Kiely KM, Anstey KJ and Luszcz MA (2013) Dual sensory loss and depres-sive symptoms: the importance of hearing, daily functioning, and activity engagement. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7 :837.