TABLE 1.
Prevalence of chronic anxiety and depression in Spanish adults, by difficulties seeing and hearing and by covariates.
| Variables | Categories | Depression | Chronic anxiety |
| Overall (n = 23089) | – | 2464 (10.7) | 2078 (9.0) |
| Only difficulty seeing*† | Yes (n = 2550) | 520 (20.4) | 397 (15.6) |
| No (n = 20539) | 1944 (9.5) | 1681 (8.2) | |
| Only difficulty hearing*† | Yes (n = 1607) | 280 (17.4) | 192 (11.9) |
| No (n = 21482) | 2184 (10.2) | 1886 (8.8) | |
| Difficulty seeing and hearing*† | Yes (n = 908) | 263 (29.0) | 179 (19.7) |
| No (n = 22181) | 2201 (9.9) | 1899 (8.6) | |
| Difficulty seeing or hearing*† | Yes (n = 5065) | 1063 (21.0) | 768 (15.2) |
| No (n = 18024) | 1401 (7.8) | 1310 (7.3) | |
| Gender*† | Females (n = 12494) | 1816 (14.5) | 1510 (12.1) |
| Males (n = 10595) | 648 (6.1) | 568 (5.4) | |
| Age*† | ≥65 years (n = 7023) | 1163 (16.6) | 724 (10.3) |
| <65 years (n = 16066) | 1301 (8.1) | 1354 (8.4) | |
| Marital status*† | Single (n = 5888) | 403 (6.8) | 409 (6.9) |
| Married (n = 12465) | 1377 (11.0) | 1193 (9.6) | |
| Widowed/divorced/separated (n = 4697) | 681 (14.5) | 473 (10.1) | |
| Living as a couple*† | No (n = 10475) | 1385 (13.2) | 1087 (10.4) |
| Yes (n = 12475) | 1071 (8.6) | 982 (7.9) | |
| Education*† | No formal education (n = 2742) | 545 (19.9) | 356 (13.0) |
| Primary (n = 4464) | 706 (15.8) | 506 (11.3) | |
| Secondary (n = 9936) | 908 (9.1) | 868 (8.7) | |
| Tertiary (n = 5947) | 305 (5.1) | 348 (5.9) | |
| Smoking*† | Current smoker (n = 5398) | 565 (10.5) | 565 (10.5) |
| Past smoker (n = 5962) | 573 (9.6) | 508 (8.5) | |
| Never (n = 11707) | 1325 (11.3) | 1005 (8.6) | |
| Alcohol*† | Daily or almost daily (n = 3771) | 330 (8.8) | 267 (7.1) |
| 5–6 days per week (n = 355) | 19 (5.4) | 13 (3.7) | |
| 3–4 days per week (n = 801) | 64 (8.0) | 48 (6.0) | |
| 1–2 days per week (n = 3424) | 196 (5.7) | 215 (6.3) | |
| 2–3 days in a month (n = 2441) | 140 (5.7) | 149 (6.1) | |
| Once a month (n = 1484) | 120 (8.1) | 120 (8.1) | |
| Less than once a month (n = 2527) | 260 (10.3) | 258 (10.2) | |
| Not in the last 12 months, I have stopped drinking alcohol (n = 3545) | 650 (18.3) | 502 (14.2) | |
| Never or just a few sips to try it throughout life (n = 4715) | 683 (14.5) | 504 (10.7) | |
| BMI*† | Underweight (n = 475) | 48 (10.1) | 48 (10.1) |
| Normal (n = 9301) | 748 (8.0) | 671 (7.2) | |
| Overweight (n = 8333) | 917 (11.0) | 772 (9.3) | |
| Obesity (n = 3910) | 597 (15.3) | 468 (12.0) | |
| Physical activity*† | <600 MET-minutes/week (n = 5366) | 680 (12.7) | 657 (12.2) |
| ≥600 MET-minutes/week (n = 12411) | 897 (7.2) | 886 (7.1) | |
| Cataracts*† | Yes (n = 2878) | 681 (23.7) | 418 (14.5) |
| No (n = 20211) | 1783 (8.8) | 1660 (8.2) | |
| Glasses/contact lenses*† | Yes (n = 15629) | 1982 (12.7) | 1627 (10.4) |
| No (n = 7443) | 476 (6.4) | 448 (6.0) | |
| Hearing aid* | Yes (n = 957) | 145 (15.2) | 90 (9.4) |
| No (n = 22108) | 2311 (10.5) | 1982 (9.0) |
Values expressed in Frequencies (Valid %). Significant differences between groups were calculated with chi-square tests. *Significant differences in the prevalence of depression. † Significant differences in the prevalence of chronic anxiety.
Those covariates that were significant were included in the regression models (Table 2). All covariates were included in the two models (depression and anxiety), except hearing aid, which was included in the model to predict depression but not in the model to predict chronic anxiety.