Quality of Life: Tinnitus and Psychopathological Symptoms

Abstract

Tinnitus can impair a patient's life in a comprehensive manner, causing personal, professional, social, and family impairment. Objectives: To evaluate the presence of psychopathological symptoms and quality of life (QoL) in patients with bothersome tinnitus and correlate it with tinnitus annoyance. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in a 3-group sample: group A (40), patients with idiopathic, persistent, and bothersome tinnitus and hearing loss; group B (26), patients with idiopathic, persistent, and bothersome tinnitus without hearing loss; and group C (26), individuals without tinnitus and without hearing loss. Each participant completed the BECK Depression (BDI) and Anxiety (BAI) scales, Obsessions and Compulsions Inventory-Revised (OCI-R), the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), and SF36. Results: Psychopathological symptoms were more common in the sample of patients (groups A and B) than in controls (group C) (P .40) with anxiety and depression; physical, social, and mental health quality-of-life domains and obsessive symptoms. Conclusions: Depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are related to tinnitus annoyance. The QoL of these patients showed impairment in the fields "social aspect," "emotional aspect," and "functional capacity." The presence of more than 1 psychopathologic disorder was responsible for a worsening in the degree of tinnitus. It was possible to verify that the concomitance of anxiety and depression, depression and obsessive symptoms (OCD), or depression and lack of social interactions were able to predict an increased discomfort of tinnitus in these patients.