Sickness Absence Due to Otoaudiological Diagnoses and Risk of Disability Pension: A Nationwide Swedish Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

BackgroundHearing difficulties are a large public health problem. Knowledge is scarce regarding risk of disability pension among people who have been sickness absent due to these difficulties.MethodsA cohort including all 4,687,756 individuals living in Sweden in 2005, aged 20–64, and not on disability or old-age pension, was followed through 2009. Incidence rate ratios (RR) of disability pension with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using Cox proportional hazard models.ResultsIn multivariable models, individuals who had a sick-leave spell due to otoaudiological diagnoses in 2005 had a 1.52-fold (95% CI: 1.43–1.62) increased risk of being granted a disability pension compared to individuals on sick leave due to other diagnoses. Hearing and tinnitus sick-leave diagnoses were associated with risk of disability pension: RR 3.38, 95% CI: 3.04–3.75, and 3.30, 95% CI: 2.95–3.68, respectively. No association was observed between sick leave due to vertigo diagnoses and disability pension whereas otological diagnoses and no sick leave were inversely associated with risk of disability pension compared to non-otoaudiological sick-leave diagnoses. Sick leave due to otoaudiological diagnoses was positively associated with risk of disability pension due to otoaudiological diagnoses and sick leave due to a tinnitus diagnosis was also associated with risk of disability pension due to mental diagnoses. The risk of disability pension among individuals with hearing or tinnitus sick-leave diagnoses was highest in the age group 35–44. Moreover, men had a slightly higher risk.ConclusionThis large cohort study suggests an increased risk of disability pension among those with sickness absence due to otoaudiological diagnoses, particularly hearing and tinnitus diagnoses, compared to those with sickness absence due to non-otoaudiological diagnoses.

Individualized Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Treatment in Chronic Tinnitus?

“…In contrast to auditory hallucinations that occur in mental disorders and mainly refer to the perception of voices, tinnitus sensations are usually of an unformed acoustic nature such as buzzing, hissing, or ringing (4). Severe tinnitus is frequently associated with depressive symptoms (5), anxiety (6, 7), and insomnia (8), and its socioeconomic relevance is illustrated by the dramatically increased risk for disability pension among tinnitus patients (9). The available evidence-based treatments for tinnitus have only small effect sizes (4, 10, 11), indicating the urgent need for the development and optimization of innovative therapeutic attempts.…”

Validation of Online Versions of Tinnitus Questionnaires Translated into Swedish

“…This condition is chronically experienced by a large portion of the population (>15%) and severely debilitating for about 1–2% of the population, affecting sleep, concentration, and productivity at work (Dobie, 2003; Heller, 2003). Tinnitus is associated with a higher risk of receiving disability pension (Friberg et al, 2012) and perceived as an enormous socioeconomic burden (Cederroth et al, 2013). In the Netherlands, tinnitus-related costs have been estimated to be € 6.8 billion per year (Maes et al, 2013).…”

Acceptance of Tinnitus As an Independent Correlate of Tinnitus Severity

“…There is also growing evidence that the negative consequences of disabling tinnitus can be observed at the level of society. For example, a recent nationwide cohort study in Sweden showed that sick leave due to tinnitus was associated with increased risk of disability pension compared with sick leave due to nonaudiological diagnoses (Friberg et al 2012).…”