Abstract
To report the prevalence of depression and its association with combined visual (VI) and hearing impairment (HI) in the elderly in residential care in India. Participants aged ≥ 60 years were recruited from 41 homes. Data on personal and sociodemographic information were obtained. Visual acuity was measured using the logMAR chart. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to assess depression, and the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly Screening (HHIE) was administered to assess hearing status. Data of all 867 eligible elderly participants were analysed. The mean age of the participants was 74.2 years (standard deviation: 8.2 years) and included 537 (61.9%) women and 117 (13.5%) participants who had no education. The prevalence of depression was 60.0% (95% CI: 45.2–73.4) in the elderly with combined VI and HI compared to 20.9% (95% CI:14.4–28.8) among those with VI only and 37.8% (95% CI: 26.6–46.5) among those with HI only. On multiple logistic regression analyses, depression was approximately 5 times higher among the participants with DSI after adjusting for other covariates. Six out of ten elderly with combined HI and VI had depression highlighting the need for screening and referral when elderly present with combined vision and hearing loss.
Highlights
To report the prevalence of depression and its association with combined visual (VI) and hearing impairment (HI) in the elderly in residential care in India
We report the co-morbidity of depression with VI, HI, and combined VI and HI (DSI) among elderly living in residential homes in Hyderabad, India
Apart from a singular or double sensory impairment, other health issues or psychosocial and emotional factors are reported to be associated with d epression[4]
Summary
To report the prevalence of depression and its association with combined visual (VI) and hearing impairment (HI) in the elderly in residential care in India. A more recent population-based study done in northern India has reported even a higher prevalence of 41% of elderly with depression in a rural community[7,8]. A rapid assessment study of VI and HI conducted among 50 years or older population reported a DSI prevalence of 4.7%14. Studies of the elderly in residential or home care reported a 13.4–86% prevalence of depression in India[17,18,19]. Given the increase in the elderly population in India associated with changing living arrangements, research into the health status of the elderly in residential care assumes significance
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