Prevalence and Determinants of Tinnitus in the Italian Adult Population

Abstract

Background: Limited, outdated, and poor quality data are available on the prevalence of tinnitus, particularly in Italy. Methods: A face-to-face survey was conducted in 2014 on 2,952 individuals, who represented the Italian population aged 18 or more (50.6 million). Any tinnitus was defined as the presence of ringing or buzzing in the ears lasting for at least 5 min in the previous 12 months. Results: Any tinnitus was reported by 6.2% of Italian adults, chronic tinnitus (i.e. for more than 3 months) by 4.8%, and severe tinnitus (i.e. which constitutes a big or very big problem) by 1.2%. The corresponding estimates for the population aged ≥45 years were 8.7, 7.4 and 2.0%, respectively. Multivariable analysis on population aged ≥45 years revealed that old age (odds ratio (OR) = 4.49 for ≥75 vs. 45-54 years) and obesity (OR = 2.14 compared to normal weight) were directly related to any tinnitus, and high monthly family income (OR = 0.50) and moderate alcohol consumption (OR = 0.59 for <7 drinks/week vs. non-drinking) were inversely related. Conclusions: This is the first study on tinnitus prevalence among the general Italian adult population. It indicates that in Italy tinnitus affects more than 3 million adults and is felt as a major problem by more than 600,000 Italians, mostly aged 45 years or more.

Outpatient Tinnitus Clinic, Self-Help Web Platform, or Mobile Application to Recruit Tinnitus Study Samples?

“…Gender was predominately male in all three samples and this result is in line with previous research on tinnitus: “In fact, most previous studies, but not all … showed higher tinnitus prevalence in men than in women” (Gallus et al, 2015; p. 16). The crowdsourcing platform Tinnitus Talk had the highest percentage of female individuals, whereas the crowdsensing platform TrackYourTinnitus had the lowest.…”

Maladaptive plasticity in tinnitus — triggers, mechanisms and treatment

“…More than one billion dollars was disbursed in disability payments by the United States Government in 2011 to members of the military suffering from tinnitus. Of the general population approximately 1–2% of individuals suffer from unremitting tinnitus to the extent that they seek assistance from the health professions including family physicians, otolaryngologists, audiologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists [1, 3]. …”

Measuring the Moment-to-Moment Variability of Tinnitus: The TrackYourTinnitus Smart Phone App

“…While a large percentage of cases is only minimally impaired during their daily routing, the severe cases of tinnitus are affected by anxiety, depression, insomnia and concentration problems all of which can impair their quality of life (Dobie, 2003; Heller, 2003; Kreuzer et al, 2013). Epidemiological studies of tinnitus indicate a prevalence between 6%–26% with 1.2%–1.6% reporting severely annoying tinnitus (Davis and Rafaie, 2000; Hasson et al, 2010; Gallus et al, 2015). There is currently little evidence for an effective treatment of tinnitus loudness and no pharmacological treatment approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA; Langguth and Elgoyhen, 2012).…”