Clinical observations and risk factors for tinnitus in a Sicilian cohort

Abstract

The aims of this study were to determine the distribution of risk factors associated with tinnitus analysing their role in the development of tinnitus and the effects of their interaction; to evidence the importance of a suitable and adequate clinical and audiologic assessment to avoid those modifiable risk factors responsible for cochlear dysfunction and tinnitus onset. 46 subjects with tinnitus and 74 controls were studied according to: age, sex, Body Mass Index (BMI), neck circumference, tobacco smoking, feeling fatigue or headache, self reporting snoring, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and/or hyperlipidemia, and laboratory finding as lipid profile and levels of reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROM). Audiological assessment was performed by multi-frequency audiometry (PTA 0.5-16 kHz ) and transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE diagnostic). Univariate analysis was performed to examine the association between determinants and occurrence of tinnitus; Mantel-Haenszel test (G.or) was used to investigate the joint effect of determinants on tinnitus. Tinnitus was more frequent among males with age [50 years; BMI [30 kg/m 2 , neck circumference [40 cm, headache, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia resulted significant risk factors for tinnitus (P \ 0.0001). Tinnitus group had more comorbidity (P \ 0.0001) and worse audiometric thresholds (60.87 Vs 21.62 % hearing loss; P \ 0.0001) with respect to control group. The interaction between hypertension-BMI C 30 kg/m 2 (G.or = 8.45) and smoking-hypercholesterolemia (G.or = 5.08) increases the risk of tinnitus (P \ 0.0001). Our results underline that several factors either individually or jointly contribute to tinnitus onset; a comprehensive knowledge about tinnitus risk factors and associated clinical conditions could contribute to minimizing this disorder.

Risk factors of pediatric tinnitus: Systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Many studies in adult populations reported that the tinnitus prevalence was higher in males or equal between the two sexes . However, most recent epidemiological studies on tinnitus in adults showed a similarity between genders or a small increase in women compared to men . Additionally, one report found that the prevalence in pediatric tinnitus was higher in females .…”

“…Although smoking has been proposed as a potential risk factor for tinnitus in both adults and children, studies have failed to obtain consensus . However, many studies have revealed that smoking can influence the vital structures of the auditory tract.…”

“…The variable prevalence in studies has also led to variations in reported risk factors of pediatric tinnitus. Increased age, female sex, hearing loss, and noise exposure were well‐established risk factors in adult tinnitus . Some previous studies indicated that those factors were significantly correlated with the development of pediatric tinnitus, whereas others reports failed to elucidate a statistically significant correlation.…”

Audiologic profile of OSAS and simple snoring patients: the effect of chronic nocturnal intermittent hypoxia on auditory function

“…Acufenometry included pitch masking (matching the frequency of the tinnitus with a variety of stimuli) and loudness matching (estimating the loudness of tinnitus with a pure tone or noise); the difference between the hearing threshold and the sensation level was considered tinnitus loudness (0-5 dB, 5, 10, 15, [15 dB above the hearing threshold) [17][18][19][20].…”

Tinnitus and its risk factors in african americans: The Jackson Heart Study

“…One study reported an association between nighttime blood pressure and tinnitus . In addition, stress, decreased sleep, hyperlipidemia, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, diabetes, thyroid disease, hypertension, increased body mass index (BMI), increased neck circumference, anxiety, and depression have been shown to be associated with increased reported tinnitus …”