Prevalence and Factors Associated with Tinnitus: A Community-Based Study of Japanese Elders

Abstract

BackgroundThe prevalence of tinnitus is reported to be high in older Western populations, and several risk factors have been suggested. However, community-based evidence on prevalence is limited and, to our knowledge, there is no such information from older non-Western populations. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with tinnitus in community-dwelling Japanese elders.MethodsIn this community-based cross-sectional study, 1320 residents of Kurabuchi Town aged 65 years or older (584 men and 736 women; participation proportion = 98.7%) were interviewed at home in 2006, and information on tinnitus and factors associated with tinnitus was collected. We estimated the prevalence of tinnitus by age group and sex and used a logistic regression model to investigate associated factors.ResultsThe prevalence of tinnitus was 18.6% (men: 18.0%; women: 19.0%); there were no statistically significant differences by age group or sex. Hearing difficulty, depressive mood, prescribed medication, past/current history of coronary heart disease, and knee joint pain requiring medical consultation were associated with tinnitus.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that tinnitus is common in Japanese aged over 65 years. Because the factors associated with tinnitus in this cross-sectional study are potentially modifiable, they should be thoroughly investigated in a longitudinal study.

Prevalence and Determinants of Tinnitus in the Italian Adult Population

“…We found no significant difference in tinnitus prevalence according to smoking status, confirming findings from most other studies [17,20,21,36]. Only a few surveys reported a higher prevalence of tinnitus in current than in never smokers [9,10].…”

“…Indeed a few studies showed that tinnitus and cardiovascular diseases share several risk factors [10,41], supporting the hypothesis that a healthy microvascular system in the inner ear [41], cochlear nerve [45] and central auditory system (which is responsible for tinnitus chronicization) [4] may reduce the risk of tinnitus. Other studies, however, did not find any relation between alcohol drinking and risk of tinnitus [17,20,21,36]. …”

“…To our knowledge, only 20 previous studies from 14 countries reported information on adult tinnitus prevalence using surveys recorded at a national or sub-national level. Online supplementary table 1 (www.karger.com/doi/10.1159/000431376) shows the summary results from those surveys [5,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25]. Prevalence of tinnitus in adults ranged between 5 and 30% and that of severe tinnitus from less than 1 to 7%.…”

Tinnitus

“…3 The results of the study showed a prevalence of 10•1% among adults, with the tinnitus described as moderately annoying by 2•8% of respondents, severely annoying by 1•6%, and at a level that severely aff ected ability to lead a normal life by 0•5%. Results from studies in Egypt, 4 Japan, 5 and Nigeria, 6 indicate tinnitus prevalence is broadly similar in these countries to in Europe and the USA. The prevalence of troublesome tinnitus increases with age to 70 years; results of some studies show that it continues to increase thereafter, although others have shown it to diminish.…”

Role of inheritance in tinnitus: it is time to search the genome

“…Precisamente, la dificultad para definir las características psicoacústicas de los acufenos, intensidad y frecuencia principalmente, permite comprender por qué los estudios de agregación familiar no han demostrado ninguna heredabilidad (16), y que no se haya podido establecer diferencias en la prevalencia de los acúfenos de acuerdo al origen étnico de la población (17)(18)(19).…”