Clinical research study
Prevalence and Characteristics of Tinnitus among US Adults

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Abstract

Background

Tinnitus is common; however, few risk factors for tinnitus are known.

Methods

We examined cross-sectional relations between several potential risk factors and self-reported tinnitus in 14,178 participants in the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, a nationally representative database. We calculated the prevalence of any and frequent (at least daily) tinnitus in the overall US population and among subgroups. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) after adjusting for multiple potential confounders.

Results

Approximately 50 million US adults reported having any tinnitus, and 16 million US adults reported having frequent tinnitus in the past year. The prevalence of frequent tinnitus increased with increasing age, peaking at 14.3% between 60 and 69 years of age. Non-Hispanic whites had higher odds of frequent tinnitus compared with other racial/ethnic groups. Hypertension and former smoking were associated with an increase in odds of frequent tinnitus. Loud leisure-time, firearm, and occupational noise exposure also were associated with increased odds of frequent tinnitus. Among participants who had an audiogram, frequent tinnitus was associated with low-mid frequency (OR 2.37; 95% CI, 1.76-3.21) and high frequency (OR 3.00; 95% CI, 1.78-5.04) hearing impairment. Among participants who were tested for mental health conditions, frequent tinnitus was associated with generalized anxiety disorder (OR 6.07; 95% CI, 2.33-15.78) but not major depressive disorder (OR 1.58; 95% CI, 0.54-4.62).

Conclusions

The prevalence of frequent tinnitus is highest among older adults, non-Hispanic whites, former smokers, and adults with hypertension, hearing impairment, loud noise exposure, or generalized anxiety disorder. Prospective studies of risk factors for tinnitus are needed.

Section snippets

Study Population

Participants from the NHANES 1999-2000, 2001-2002, and 2003-2004 surveys were included in our study. NHANES provides nationally representative cross-sectional data on the health status of the civilian, non-institutionalized US population. After selection in a complex survey design, participants were interviewed and examined. The design of NHANES has been described previously.12 Because older individuals, Mexican-Americans, and black individuals were intentionally over-represented, NHANES

Results

Characteristics of participants with any and frequent tinnitus are shown in Table 1. Responses from 14,178 participants in our analytic dataset corresponded to a prevalence among US adults of 25.3% (approximately 50 million) of experiencing any tinnitus, and 7.9% (approximately 16 million) of experiencing frequent tinnitus in the past year. The prevalence of any and frequent tinnitus increased with increasing age, peaking at 31.4% and 14.3%, respectively, at age 60-69 years. Overall, the

Discussion

The overall prevalence of tinnitus in the US was 25.3%, corresponding to a national estimate of 50 million adults. This prevalence is consistent with the upper range of the overall estimate previously reported from the NHIS (35-50 million).3 Similar to data from the Beaver Dam cohort,11 the prevalence of tinnitus in our study increased with age until the age of 60-69 years, after which it decreased with increasing age. This inverse relationship between age and tinnitus in older age groups has

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    Funding: This work was supported by the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Foundation and with resources and the use of facilities at the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center, VA Boston Healthcare System.

    Conflict of Interest: The authors of this study had no conflicts of interest as pertaining to this study. No pharmaceutical industry funds were received for the preparation of this manuscript or any related research.

    Authorship: All authors had access to the data and participated in the writing of the manuscript.

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