The association between late-life depression (LLD) and age-related hearing loss (ARHL) was suggested by preliminary studies, but reliance on LLD subtypes may introduce significant bias. We examined the association between ARHL and LLD according to the age of onset (early-onset depression (EOD) and late-onset depression (LOD)). We investigated the association between ARHL and LLD diagnosed according to the Semi-structured Clinical Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV-TR in 1749 Italian community-dwelling older subjects from the population-based GreatAGE Study, Southern Italy. Peripheral ARHL was assessed as a pure tone average (PTA) threshold > 40 dB hearing level in the better ear- and age-related CAPD as a score of < 50% to the Synthetic Sentences Identification with Ipsilateral Competitive Message (SSI-ICM) test. LLD amounted at 10.29% of the sample, subdivided in LOD (6.21%) and EOD (4.08%). Age-related CAPD tended to be higher in LOD (28.91%) than in EOD (19.05%). After accounting for covariates, LOD was tendentially associated to age-related CAPD, but not to peripheral ARHL. This trend was confirmed by the linear models in which LOD was significantly associated to worsen SSI-ICM percentages (odds ratio 2.38, 95% confidence interval 1.32–4.30, p = 0.004), but not to PTA values. In a fully adjusted model of LOD, the effect of the association between CAPD and LOD was explained by social dysfunction. LLD was not associated to peripheral ARHL. Age-related CAPD was associated to LOD, a form of depression with cognitive dysfunction hallmark. The ARHL assessment may be an important opportunity to prevent depressive disorders in later life, particularly for LOD.

初步研究表明晚年抑郁症 (LLD) 与年龄相关性听力损失 (ARHL) 之间存在关联，但对 LLD 亚型的依赖可能会引入显着的偏差。我们根据发病年龄（早发性抑郁症 (EOD) 和晚发性抑郁症 (LOD)）检查了 ARHL 和 LLD 之间的关联。我们根据意大利南部基于人口的 GreatAGE 研究中的 1749 名意大利社区老年受试者，根据 DSM-IV-TR 的半结构化临床诊断访谈诊断出 ARHL 和 LLD 之间的关联。外周 ARHL 的评估为纯音平均 (PTA) 阈值 > 40 dB 听力水平，在更好的耳朵和年龄相关的 CAPD 中，同侧竞争性信息合成句子识别 (SSI-ICM) 测试的得分 < 50% 。LLD 占样本的 10.29%，细分为 LOD (6.21%) 和 EOD (4.08%)。LOD (28.91%) 中与年龄相关的 CAPD 往往高于 EOD (19.05%)。考虑协变量后，LOD 往往与年龄相关的 CAPD 相关，但与外周 ARHL 无关。这一趋势得到了线性模型的证实，其中 LOD 与恶化的 SSI-ICM 百分比显着相关（比值比 2.38，95% 置信区间 1.32–4.30，p = 0.004），但 与 PTA 值无关。在完全调整的 LOD 模型中，CAPD 和 LOD 之间关联的影响可以通过社会功能障碍来解释。LLD 与外周 ARHL 无关。年龄相关的 CAPD 与 LOD 相关，LOD 是一种以认知功能障碍为标志的抑郁症。ARHL 评估可能是预防晚年抑郁症（尤其是 LOD）的重要机会。