Relationship between hearing loss and prevalence of depressive symptoms in Japan: Baseline data from the Aidai Cohort study in Yawatahama and Uchiko

•Hearing impairment was independently positively related to depressive symptom.•The positive association was stronger among middle-aged participants.•The positive association was not significant in the elderly. Epidemiological evidence on the relationship between hearing loss (HL) and depressive symptoms, especially in the middle aged, is limited. The present cross-sectional study investigated this issue in middle-aged and older Japanese individuals separately. Study subjects were 1018 Japanese adults aged 36−84 years. We used the audiometric definition of HL, which identifies the speech-frequency pure tone average (PTA) hearing thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz as an average of four frequencies. HL was defined as present when PTA was > 25 dB HL in the better-hearing ear. Presence of depressive symptoms was defined as a Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale score ≥ 16. Adjustment was made for age, sex, smoking status, alcohol consumption, leisure time physical activity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, body mass index, waist circumference, employment, education, and household income. The prevalence values of HL and depressive symptoms were 11.5% and 15.0%, respectively, among the 575 subjects aged < 65 years and 42.2% and 10.4%, respectively, among the 443 subjects aged ≥ 65 years. Among the 1018 participants, HL was independently related to a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms: the multivariate-adjusted OR was 1.92 (95% CI: 1.19−3.08). This positive association was stronger among middle-aged participants, with a multivariate-adjusted OR of 2.70 (95% CI: 1.34−5.27), but was not significant in the elderly, with a multivariate-adjusted OR of 1.71 (95% CI: 0.83−3.54). HL may be positively associated with depressive symptoms in middle-aged, but not older, individuals.