Background

Accumulating evidence suggests that hearing impairment is associated with the onset of depression. However, large-scale epidemiological studies are required to define this association more clearly. We aimed to investigate the risk of new-onset depression in Korean older adults with and without hearing impairment.

Methods

From the National Health Insurance Service-Senior Cohort, which is a retrospective-prospective hybrid database, we analyzed data for 254,466 older adults enrolled in the Korea National Health Insurance Service-Senior Cohort who underwent at least one health screening between 2003 and 2019. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to evaluate the association between hearing impairment and the risk of incident depression, which was presented as adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). All participants were followed up until the date of incident depression, death, or December 31, 2019.

Results

During 3,417,682 person-years of follow-up investigation, hearing impairment was associated with a higher risk of incident depression (vs. no hearing impairment) in the final adjusted model (aHR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01–1.21; p = 0.033). Stratified analyses revealed a significant interaction among age, hearing impairment, and the risk of depression. Participants aged <65 years had a higher risk of depression (aHR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.12–1.50; p < 0.001) than those aged 65 or above (aHR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.01–1.30; p = 0.032).

Conclusions

Hearing impairment is independently associated with a higher risk of depression among older adults. The prevention and treatment of hearing impairment may aid in mitigating the risk of incident depression.