The relationship between self-reported sensory impairments and psychosocial health in older adults: a 4-year follow-up study using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Objectives To explore cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between self-reported hearing and vision impairments and self-rated health, quality of life (QoL) and depressive symptoms at 4-year follow-up. Study design The study involved cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses with 4-year follow-up using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Methods Community-dwelling adults (n = 3931) aged ≥50 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing participated in this study. Self-reported hearing and vision were defined as good or poor. Self-rated health was treated as a dichotomous variable (good and poor health). QoL was based on the 19-item Critical Appraisal Skills Programme and treated as a continuous variable (score 0–57). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the eight-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D8) and defined as CES-D≥3. Relationships between sensory impairments and self-rated health and depressive symptoms were analysed using logistic regression. Linear regression was used to assess the relationships between sensory impairments and QoL. Results In cross-sectional analyses, both self-reported hearing and vision impairment were positively associated with all outcomes assessed. In longitudinal analyses, self-reported poor hearing and vision were associated with increased risks of poor self-rated health (hearing: odds ratio [OR] 1.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32, 2.05; vision: OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.16, 2.12) and depressive symptoms (hearing: OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.07, 1.71; vision: OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.09, 1.90) after adjustment for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, chronic illness, mobility limitations and cognition. Poor hearing and poor vision were not associated with reduced QoL after adjustment for covariates. Conclusions The findings stress the importance of identifying and addressing sensory impairments in older adults to improve their health and well-being.