Relationship between Quality of Life, Anxiety and Depression in Unilateral Hearing Loss

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to find effects of acquired unilateral hearing impairment on quality of life (QOL), anxiety, and depression in young male patients. This study was performed on military personnel aged 21-30 and healthy apart from their incipient hearing loss. Materials and Methods: A prospective analysis was performed on 90 patients and 90 healthy individuals who were admitted to the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of Sivas Military Hospital, Turkey between February 2007 and November 2007. A psychiatrist, who employed several questionnaires regarding QOL, Beck Depression, Anxiety Inventory, neuropsychological functions, and affective disorders, additionally examined the patients and the healthy individuals. Ninety patients with unilateral hearing loss worse than 25 dB were included in the present study. Hearing loss was classified as: mild impairment (26-40 dB HL); moderate impairment (41-60 dB HL); severe impairment (61-80 dB HL); profound impairment (including deafness) (81 dB HL or greater). Results: Hearing impaired patients' QOL levels were significantly worse than the healthy reference groups in terms of physical, social, psychosocial aspects (p<0.05), and their depression anxiety levels were also higher (p<0.05). There were statistical differences between the two groups, but there was no statistical difference between the groups regarding educational background (p>0.05) and median age (p>0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: The patient group's depression and anxiety levels were higher and their QOL level lower. Although hearing impairment exhibited a negative correlation with the levels of quality of life, anxiety, and depression, it showed no correlation with age, educational background, and level of hearing impairment. The duration of hearing loss was positively correlated with anxiety and depression levels and negatively correlated with QOL scores. The results of this study were compared with other age groups and civilian people of other studies.