Table 3.
Relationships Between Baseline Hearing Loss, Depression, Sociodemographic Characteristics, and Conversion to Dementia*
| Model A | Model B (time-varying depression) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazard Ratio | 95% CI | Chi-Square | p Value | Hazard Ratio | 95% CI | Chi-Square | p Value | |
| Hearing Loss at baseline | ||||||||
| No Hearing Loss (ref.) | 1.00 | 1.00 | ||||||
| Treated Hearing Loss | 1.29 | 1.03–1.62 | 4.86 | .03 | 1.27 | 1.01–1.59 | 4.15 | .04 |
| Untreated Hearing Loss | 1.02 | 0.76–1.36 | 0.01 | .91 | 1.00 | 0.75–1.34 | 0.00 | .99 |
| Depression† at baseline | 2.32 | 1.77–3.05 | 36.38 | <.0001 | 1.65 | 1.21–2.23 | 10.25 | .0014 |
| Depression† during follow-up | 1.89 | 1.47–2.42 | 24.54 | <.0001 | ||||
| Age | ||||||||
| 60–69 (ref.) | 1.00 | 1.00 | ||||||
| 70–79 | 2.79 | 2.08–3.74 | 47.00 | <.0001 | 2.71 | 2.02–3.64 | 44.40 | <.0001 |
| 80–89 | 6.46 | 4.80–8.71 | 150.35 | <.0001 | 6.03 | 4.47–8.13 | 138.51 | <.0001 |
| ≥90 | 15.16 | 10.12–22.70 | 137.87 | <.0001 | 12.31 | 8.20–18.47 | 147.02 | <.0001 |
| Female | 0.75 | 0.62–0.90 | 9.45 | .0021 | 0.76 | 0.63–0.91 | 8.86 | .01 |
| Race | ||||||||
| Non-Hispanic White (ref.) | 1.00 | 1.00 | ||||||
| Non-Hispanic African American | 0.63 | 0.46–0.86 | 8.26 | .004 | 0.65 | 0.48–0.89 | 7.09 | .0078 |
| Hispanic | 1.12 | 0.75–1.65 | 0.29 | .59 | 1.08 | 0.72–1.60 | 0.13 | .72 |
| Non-Hispanic Asian | 0.79 | 0.35–1.76 | 0.34 | .56 | 0.75 | 0.33–1.68 | 0.50 | .48 |
| Other | 0.99 | 0.25–3.96 | 0.00 | .98 | 0.88 | 0.22–3.54 | 0.03 | .86 |
| Years of schooling‡ | 0.95 | 0.92–0.98 | 10.12 | .0015 | 0.95 | 0.92–0.98 | 9.81 | .0017 |
| APOE genotype | ||||||||
| Lowest risk (no ε4 alleles) (ref.) | 1.00 | |||||||
| Intermediate (1 ε4 allele) | 2.15 | 1.78–2.61 | 61.44 | <.0001 | 2.14 | 1.76–2.59 | 59.93 | <.0001 |
| High risk (2 ε4 alleles) | 3.89 | 2.48–6.10 | 34.89 | <.0001 | 4.02 | 2.56–6.33 | 36.31 | <.0001 |
Notes: CI = confidence interval.
*Hazard ratios indicate the rate of conversion to dementia in the hearing categories and relevant covariates compared to the reference group for all included participants (N = 8529). The following interaction tests were performed: hearing * baseline depression (p = .4170), hearing * time-varying depression (p = .2284), hearing * age (p = .7379), hearing * sex (p = .6694), and hearing * race/ethnicity (p = .6825).
†Depression = 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) ≥ 5.
‡Years of schooling measured as a continuous variable (range 0–29).