Epidemiological Study of Chronic Tinnitus in Assiut, Egypt

Abstract

Background and Aim: Few comprehensive epidemiological studies of the prevalence of tinnitus have been undertaken, and none has been carried out in Egypt. A community-based survey was conducted in the Assiut Governorate to estimate the prevalence of tinnitus, its associations with psychiatric disorders and its effect on the quality of life. Material and Methods: The study involved 8,484 subjects, 5,783 (68.2%) from the rural community and 2,701 (31.8%) from the urban community. Patients were identified from a door-to-door survey and evaluated using a semistructured questionnaire, the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scales. Results: Four hundred and thirty-nine patients with tinnitus were found, giving a prevalence of 5.17 tinnitus cases/100 inhabitants. Males and females were equally affected. The highest age-specific prevalence rate was recorded among subjects above 60 years (17.66%) and was significantly higher among urban than rural inhabitants (6.3 vs. 4.6%) and among illiterate than among educated persons (10.15 vs. 3.07%). A majority of patients (53.3%) had some hearing loss; otitis media was common. Only 15.2% of cases were classified as having severe to catastrophic tinnitus. Nearly two thirds had a degree of depression. There were significant correlations between the severity of tinnitus and the degree of hearing loss, temporomandibular joint pain and the Hamilton depression score. Sleep disturbance was reported by 39.4% of subjects. Life enjoyment was severely affected in 15% of tinnitus patients. Conclusion: Tinnitus is a common problem in our locality, especially in older adults, and is associated with some modifiable risk factors.

Prevalence and Determinants of Tinnitus in the Italian Adult Population

“…Accordingly, our data are compatible with higher (severe) tinnitus rates among residents in municipalities with a relatively small population size. This is in agreement with a survey from China, showing a higher tinnitus prevalence in rural than in urban areas [18], although in Egypt the opposite was observed [22]. A few studies investigated the relationship between marital status and tinnitus, showing no significant difference [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.…”

Auditory brainstem response and late latency response in individuals with tinnitus having normal hearing

“…About 10-25% of the adult population has prolonged tinnitus (11)(12)(13)(14). 70-80% of individuals with tinnitus have significant hearing difficulties (15).…”