Effects of Impaired Hearing on Perceived Health and Life Situation

Table 1.

Perceived healthResponse categoriesRecordedAnalysedPerceived healthPerception of healthQuestion asked:- Very good (1)- Good (1–2)vs- Not good (3–4)- How is your present health?- Good (2)- Not so good (3)- Poor (4)Perception of anxiety:Question asked:- No (1)- No (1) vs- Yes (2–4)- During the last two weeks, have you felt troubled by anxiety?- Somewhat (2)- Much (3)- Very much (4)Perceived life situationParticipation in social activities outside the familyQuestion asked:- Never, or only a few times a year (1)- No (1) vs - Yes (2–4)- How often do you usually take part in social activities, such as, e.g. a sports club, a political, religious or other organization?- 1–2 times a month (2)- About once a week (3)- More than once a week (4)General satisfaction in lifeQuestion asked:-Extremely satisfied (1)- Satisfied (1–3) vs Dissatisfied (4–7)- When you think about your situation at the moment, are you on the whole satisfied with your way of life or are you on the whole dissatisfied with your way of life?- Very satisfied (2) -Quite satisfied (3) - Both satisfied and dissatisfied (4) - Fairly dissatisfied (5) - Very dissatisfied (6)- Extremely dissatisfied (7)

Table 2.

NormalMildModerateSevere/profoundTotalMales13728716188Females11468711155Total2411817427343Living with spouse188811314233Education^¶  < 10 years85010115174^* 10–13 years73646998  > 13 years93225369Age (years) Mean56.765.773.366.469.0^† SD11.411.812.420.713.8MTH Mean15.931.749.582.143.4 SD3.65.27.810.116.7HA experience13011425170^§Tinnitus1442566118^*Pearson's χ²=16.046, df = 6, p<0.05.^†ANOVA: F = 16.955; df = 3, p<0.001.^§Pearson's χ²=87.344, df = 3, p<0.001.^¶Numbers for this variable do not total 343 because of missing data.MTH = mean threshold of hearing; HA = hearing aid.

Table 3.

Health and life situationUnadjustedAdjusted^*YesNoOR95% CIOR95% CIPerceived HealthPerception of Health as “Not good”Hearing Normal6181Reference1Reference Mild HI47711.986(0.734–5.370)1.652(0.589–4.633) Moderate HI84902.800(1.061–7.391)2.671(0.910–7.835) Severe/profound HI14133.250(0.967–10.922)4.317(1.125–16.569)Wald statistics5.674, p=0.0176.333, p=0.012AnxietyHearing Normal3201Reference1Reference Mild HI20941.418(0.384–5.236)1.214(0.311–4.737) Moderate HI411252.187(0.618–7.738)1.425(0.350–5.806) Severe/profound HI8173.137(0.717–13.727)1.831(0.348–9.629)Wald statistics3.969, p=0.0460.655, n.s.Perceived Life SituationNo participation^† in social activity outside the familyHearing Normal10141Reference1Reference Mild HI52661.103(0.453–2.684)1.015(0.390–2.642) Moderate HI83911.277(0.538–3.031)1.290(0.472–3.527) Severe/profound HI15121.750(0.576–5.316)2.226(0.605–8.189)Wald statistics1.329, n.s.1.835, n.s.Dissatisfaction^‡ in lifeHearing Normal6181Reference1Reference Mild HI24930.774(0.277–2.162)1.255(0.415–3.790) Moderate HI371360.816(0.302–2.203)1.477(0.456–4.781) Severe/profound HI9181.500(0.442–5.092)3.233(0.742–14.090)Wald statistics0.613, n.s.2.131, n.s.Numbers for some variables do not total 343 because of missing data.*All effect variables were adjusted for age strata, tinnitus and previous hearing aid (HA) experience.^†In addition “participation” was adjusted with gender and duration.^‡In addition “dissatisfaction” was adjusted for gender and education.HI = hearing impairment; OR = odd's ratio; CI = confidence interval; n.s.=not significant.