Vascular–Metabolic Risk Factors and Psychological Stress in Patients with Chronic Tinnitus

Abstract

Little is known about molecular correlates of chronic tinnitus. We examined interrelationships between vascular–metabolic risk factors, perceived stress, and other routine blood values in patients with chronic tinnitus. Two-hundred patients (51% female) were screened for 49 blood parameters pertaining to vascular–metabolic risk, immune function, and redox processes. They further completed perceived stress- and tinnitus-related distress questionnaires. Following descriptive analyses, gender-specific sets of age- and tinnitus-severity-adjusted regression models investigated associations between perceived stress and blood parameters. Patients reported mildly elevated levels of perceived stress. Elevated levels of total cholesterol (65% and 61% of female and male patients, respectively), non-HDL-c (43/50%), LDL-c (56/59%), and lipoprotein_a (28/14%) were accompanied by high rates of overweight (99/100%) and smoking (28/31%). A low-level inflammatory state was accompanied by reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS)-neutralizing capacity (reduced co-enzyme Q10 and SOD1 levels). Most vascular risk factors were not correlated with perceived stress, except for fibrinogen (ß = −0.34) as well as C-reactive protein (ß = −0.31, p < 0.05) in men, and MCV (ß = −0.26, p < 0.05) in women. Interrelations between blood parameters and stress levels need to be investigated within psychobehavioural frameworks across varying distress levels. Alongside psychological interventions, a low-level inflammatory state may be a route for pharmacological therapeutics.

Tinnitus und beeinflussende Komorbiditäten

“…In future, the field can expect further improvements in assessment and therapy. Novel research frameworks focus on dimensional (not categorical) conceptualizations of psychological distress 124 125 126 , biomarkers of tinnitus-related distress 33 35 127 as well as refined psychotherapeutic treatment frameworks 128 . In addition, the importance of unified data collections 129 130 131 or methodological advances in big data analysis are of increasing importance 31 58 .…”

“…Overall, the study emphasized the importance of emotional distress (and its avoidance) in the maintenance of tinnitus-related distress. Physiological or genetic correlates of these distress experiences are the subject of ongoing psychosomatic research 33 34 35 36 37 38 .…”

“…Insgesamt betonte die Studie die Bedeutung emotionaler Belastung (sowie ihrer Vermeidung) in der Aufrechterhaltung chronischer Tinnitussymptomatik. Physiologische oder genetische Korrelate individueller Belastung sind Gegenstand aktueller Untersuchungen 33 34 35 36 37 38 .…”

“…Perspektivisch sind weitere Verbesserungen in Diagnostik und Therapie zu erwarten. Aktuelle Forschungsfelder fokussieren dimensionale Konzeptualisierungen psychischer Belastung 124 125 126 , Biomarker der Tinnitusbelastung 33 35 127 sowie Weiterentwicklungen psychotherapeutischer Therapieverfahren 128 . Zudem werden zunehmend die Bedeutung vereinheitlichter Datenerhebungen 129 130 131 oder methodologische Fortschritte bei der Analyse großer Datenmengen hervorgehoben 31 58 .…”

Limited Link of Common Blood Parameters with Tinnitus

“…A previous study of our research group investigated associations between blood parameters and perceived stress in the same sample of tinnitus patients [9]. In the current work, we use the same data, focusing on the possible links between blood parameters and three audiological measures, namely the hearing threshold (HT), tinnitus loudness (TL), and sensation level (SL), and the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ) [10] score, respectively.…”