Introduction: Substantial literature has documented the association between diabetes and hearing impairment, however, the relationship between diabetes distress and hearing impairment is poorly understood.
Methods: The 2021 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) included diabetes distress, hearing impairment, and demographic/household characteristics. Multilevel, binary dependent variable regressions evaluated these association between diabetes distress and hearing impairment controlling for age, income, residence, marital status, rurality, educational attainment, insurance, and household composition. Interaction terms tested for sex, race, income, and residential differences in these associations. Finally, the association between hearing aid use and distress was tested.
Results: Over 25% of adults with diabetes in the sample reported hearing difficulty and 30% reported diabetes distress. Results indicated that diabetes distress was significantly more likely among female (OR=1.44, CI=1.20, 1.74), low income earning (OR=1.97, CI=1.47, 2.55), Black (OR=1.46, CI=1.12, 1.93) and Hispanic (OR=1.47, CI=1.07, 2.04) individuals with diabetes compared to their counterparts. Diabetic individuals with hearing impairment (OR=1.48, CI=1.18, 1.85) were comparatively more likely to report distress particularly among females (OR=1.31, CI=1.68) and Hispanic (OR=1.63, CI=1.08, 3.15) respondents. However, when diabetics with hearing impairment used a hearing aid, they were nearly 20% less likely (OR=0.83, CI=0.57, 0.99) to report diabetes related distress than those without assistive devices.
Conclusion: Diabetes distress was significantly more likely among individuals with hearing impairment, particularly hearing-impaired female, and Hispanic respondents. Hearing aid usage decreased the likelihood of distress suggesting that potential communication difficulties could potentially explain the observed differences in distress.
M.M. Jacobs: None. C. Ellis: None. E. Evans: None.
