Tinnitus and the prevalence of co-morbid psychological stress

Background: Tinnitus is a symptom of unknown pathophysiology with few therapeutic measures and may present with co-morbid psychological stresses necessitating psychiatric treatment. This study aims at determining the prevalence of depression and anxiety in tinnitus sufferers in our environment. Method: This is a one year (April 2006 – March 2007) prospective study of out-patients presenting with tinnitus to our Ear, Nose and Throat clinic who were administered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire until the sample size was reached. Results: Questionnaires were administered to one hundred and four patients with tinnitus, 92 patients filled theirs correctly and these were analyzed. There were 42(45.7%) males and 50(54.3%) females (Table 1) with an age range of 20 to 78years. Six hundred and eighty seven patients presented with various otologic ailments in the study period, of which 104 (15.1%) patients had tinnitus. The overall prevalence of depression was 17.4%, higher in females (9.8%) than males (7.6%).The overall prevalence of anxiety was 22.8% with males having a higher prevalence (11.9%) than females (10.9%). Three (3.2) patients had both depression and anxiety. Eighty three (90.2%) patients were in the active and productive age group with 13 patients (prevalence of 14.1%) having depression and 20 patients (prevalence of 21.7%) with anxiety. Conclusion: We recommend the screening or assessment for psychological distress in tinnitus sufferers so that patients can be adequately treated. Nigerian Journal of Medicine Vol. 17 (1) 2008 pp. 95-9