Introduction
Material and methods
Database
Assessments
Measure | Content | Time frame item example |
---|---|---|
Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI)
| 25 items | Time frame not specified |
3 response options | ||
○ yes (4 points) ○ sometimes (2 points) ○ no (0 points) | “Because of your tinnitus do you feel frustrated?” | |
Summary score 0 to 100 | ||
A higher score denotes higher tinnitus-related handicap | ||
THI functional subscale
| Score 0 to 44, reflects role limitations in the areas of mental, social, occupational and physical functioning | “Because of your tinnitus do you often feel tired?” |
THI emotional subscale
| Score 0 to 36, representing a broad range of affective responses to tinnitus | “Does your tinnitus make you angry?” |
THI catastrophic subscale
| Score 0 to 20, reflects patients’ desperation, inability to escape from tinnitus, perception of having a terrible disease, lack of control and inability to cope | “Because of your tinnitus do you feel desperate?” |
Tinnitus severity
| One question about tinnitus severity | Present |
○ no problem (1 point) ○ a small problem (2 points) ○ a moderate problem | “How much of a problem is your tinnitus at present” | |
(3 points) | ||
○ a big problem (4 points) ○ a very big problem (5 points) |
Measure | Content | Time frame item example |
---|---|---|
WHO-QoL Bref domain1
|
Physical health
| Last 4 weeks |
7 items | “How well are you able to go around?” | |
5 response options | ||
Score 4 to 20 | ||
A higher score denotes higher physical health | ||
WHO-QoL Bref domain2
|
Psychological health
| Last 4 weeks |
6 items | “How much do you enjoy life?” | |
5 response options | ||
Score 4 to 20 | ||
A higher score denotes higher psychological health | ||
WHO-QoL Bref domain3
|
Social relationships
| Last 4 weeks |
3 items | “How satisfied are you with your personal relationships?” | |
5 response options | ||
Score 4 to 20 | ||
A higher score denotes better social relationships | ||
WHO-QoL Bref domain4
|
Environment
| Last 4 weeks |
8 items | “To what extend do you have the opportunity for leisure activities?” | |
5 response options | ||
Score 4 to 20 | ||
A higher score denotes better environment | ||
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
|
Depression
| Last 2 weeks |
21 items | “How sad do you feel?” | |
4 response options | ||
Score 0 to 63 | ||
A higher score denotes higher depression |
Statistical analysis
Results
Patient characteristics
Age (years), median (IQR) | 52 (43; 61) |
Tinnitus duration (years), median (IQR) | 5.0 (1.6; 11.9) |
Sex (N,%) | |
Men | 839 (66%) |
Women | 435 (34%) |
THI totalscore, median (IQR) | 46 (30; 66) |
Tinnitus severity, (N,%*) | |
Not a problem | 16 (1%) |
A small problem | 139 (11%) |
A moderate problem | 459 (36%) |
A big problem | 418 (33%) |
A very big problem | 133 (10%) |
WHO-QoL Bref: physical health, median (IQR) | 14.9 (12.6; 16.6) |
WHO-QoL Bref: psychological health, median (IQR) | 14.4 (12.0; 16.0) |
WHO-QoL Bref: social relationships, median (IQR) | 14.7 (12.0; 16.0) |
WHO-QoL Bref: environment median (IQR) | 16.0 (14.5; 17.5) |
BDI total score, median (IQR) | 9 (5; 16) |
THI summary score and self-reported severity
Physical health | Psychological health | Social relationship | Environment | BDI | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
R2 | B, p-value | R2 | B, p-value | R2 | B, p-value | R2 | B, p-value | R2 | B, p-value | |
THI total
| 0.39 | −0.08, <0.001 | 0.40 | −0.08, <0.001 | 0.13 | −0.05, <0.001 | 0.16 | −0.04, <0.001 | 0.46 | 0.26, <0.001 |
THI functional
| 0.37 | −0.16, <0.001 | 0.34 | −0.14, <0.001 | 0.11 | −0.09 <0.001 | 0.08 | −0.06, <0.001 | 0.36 | 0.47, <0.001 |
THI emotional
| 0.34 | −0.20, <0.001 | 0.41 | −0.21, <0.001 | 0.17 | −0.15, <0.001 | 0.16 | −0.12, <0.001 | 0.39 | 0.65, <0.001 |
THI catastrophic
| 0.21 | −0.27, <0.001 | 0.30 | −0.30, <0.001 | 0.11 | −0.20, <0.001 | 0.07 | −0.14, <0.001 | 0.26 | 0.88, <0.001 |
Tinnitus severity
| 0.18 | −1.46, <0.001 | 0.16 | −1.25, <0.001 | 0.05 | −0.78, <0.001 | 0.06 | −0.66, <0.001 | 0.20 | 4.44, <0.001 |
THI items
THI No* | THI items | Physical health | Psychological health | Social relationships | Environment | BDI | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B | p | B | p | B | p | B | p | B | p | ||
(Constant) | 17.79 | 0.00 | 17.02 | 0.00 | 16.33 | 0.00 | 16.93 | 0.00 | 1.47 | 0.02 | |
1F | Because of your Tinnitus is it difficult for you to concentrate? | 0.04 | 0.79 | 0.01 | 0.92 | 0.08 | 0.65 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.65 |
2F | Does the loudness of your Tinnitus make it difficult for you to hear people? | −0.08 | 0.43 | 0.07 | 0.42 | 0.06 | 0.62 | 0.03 | 0.72 | −0.02 | 0.95 |
3E | Does your Tinnitus make you angry? | 0.09 | 0.48 | 0.06 | 0.58 | 0.14 | 0.37 | −0.05 | 0.69 | −0.05 | 0.89 |
4F | Does your Tinnitus make you confused? |
−0.42
|
0.00
|
−0.40
|
0.00
|
−0.38
|
0.02
|
−0.52
|
0.00
|
1.60
|
0.00
|
5C | Because of your Tinnitus are you desperate? | −0.22 | 0.12 |
−0.41
|
0.00
| 0.01 | 0.93 | 0.22 | 0.10 |
1.00
|
0.01
|
6E | Do you complain a great deal about your Tinnitus? | −0.08 | 0.44 | 0.18 | 0.07 |
0.34
|
0.02
| −0.11 | 0.27 | −0.41 | 0.17 |
7F | Because of your tinnitus do you have trouble falling asleep at night? |
−0.73
|
0.00
| −0.09 | 0.33 | 0.03 | 0.83 |
−0.19
|
0.03
|
0.89
|
0.00
|
8C | Do you feel as though you cannot escape from your Tinnitus? | 0.07 | 0.59 | −0.10 | 0.34 | 0.06 | 0.68 | −0.10 | 0.36 | 0.26 | 0.44 |
9F | Does your Tinnitus interfere with your ability to enjoy social activities? | −0.18 | 0.14 | 0.04 | 0.72 | −0.01 | 0.92 | 0.00 | 1.00 | −0.03 | 0.93 |
10E | Because of your Tinnitus do you feel frustrated? | 0.08 | 0.55 | −0.04 | 0.78 | −0.15 | 0.41 | 0.20 | 0.12 | 0.13 | 0.73 |
11C | Because of your Tinnitus do you feel that you have a terrible disease? | −0.06 | 0.61 | 0.16 | 0.12 | 0.00 | 0.99 |
−0.21
|
0.04
| 0.51 | 0.10 |
12F | Does your Tinnitus make it difficult to enjoy life? | 0.23 | 0.09 | −0.13 | 0.29 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
0.35
|
0.01
| 0.02 | 0.97 |
13F | Does your Tinnitus interfere with your job or household responsibilities? |
−0.76
|
0.00
|
−0.42
|
0.00
| −0.11 | 0.53 |
−0.53
|
0.00
|
1.54
|
0.00
|
14F | Because of your Tinnitus do you find that you are often irritable? | −0.09 | 0.46 | −0.19 | 0.10 | −0.09 | 0.55 | 0.04 | 0.70 | 0.35 | 0.31 |
15F | Because of your Tinnitus is it difficult for you to read? | −0.18 | 0.10 |
−0.21
|
0.03
|
−0.30
|
0.03
| −0.03 | 0.78 | 0.27 | 0.37 |
16E | Does your Tinnitus make you upset? |
−0.29
|
0.03
|
−0.25
|
0.04
|
−0.53
|
0.00
|
−0.78
|
0.00
|
0.89
|
0.02
|
17E | Do you feel that your Tinnitus has placed stress on your relationships with members of your family and friends? | 0.09 | 0.49 | 0.06 | 0.60 | −0.26 | 0.11 | 0.20 | 0.10 | 0.44 | 0.22 |
18F | Do you find it difficult to focus your attention away from your Tinnitus and on to other things? | −0.21 | 0.11 | −0.21 | 0.09 | 0.05 | 0.76 | 0.02 | 0.88 | 0.05 | 0.88 |
19C | Do you feel that you have no control over your Tinnitus? | 0.08 | 0.47 | −0.02 | 0.83 | −0.17 | 0.23 | 0.16 | 0.12 | −0.29 | 0.36 |
20F | Because of your Tinnitus do you often feel tired? |
−0.47
|
0.00
| −0.15 | 0.13 | 0.11 | 0.43 | −0.09 | 0.37 |
0.82
|
0.01
|
21E | Because of your Tinnitus do you feel depressed? | −0.24 | 0.10 |
−0.60
|
0.00
|
−0.70
|
0.00
| −0.20 | 0.12 |
1.78
|
0.00
|
22E | Does your Tinnitus make you feel anxious? |
−0.35
|
0.00
|
−0.28
|
0.01
|
−0.30
|
0.05
|
−0.23
|
0.04
|
0.64
|
0.05
|
23C | Do you feel you can no longer cope with your Tinnitus? | −0.13 | 0.32 |
−0.31
|
0.01
| −0.11 | 0.53 | −0.21 | 0.08 | 0.13 | 0.72 |
24F | Does your Tinnitus get worse when you are under stress? |
−0.19
|
0.04
| −0.06 | 0.43 | −0.05 | 0.64 | −0.04 | 0.66 | 0.31 | 0.20 |
25E | Does your Tinnitus make you feel insecure? | −0.08 | 0.47 |
−0.21
|
0.05
| 0.03 | 0.86 | −0.16 | 0.14 |
1.00
|
0.00
|
R2 (adjusted R2) | 0.45 (0.44) | 0.45 (0.44) | 0.17 (0.15) | 0.26 (0.25) | 0.50 (0.49) |