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Tinnitus Severity and the Relation to Depressive Symptoms

2011; Wiley; Volume: 145; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0194599811403381

1097-6817

Els Ooms, Reitske Meganck, Stijn Vanheule, Bart Vinck, Jean‐Baptiste Watelet, Ingeborg Dhooge,

Multisensory perception and integration

In this study, the authors investigated whether tinnitus severity is a problem related to depression. If so, the following 2 conditions should be fulfilled: first, there should be evidence for the presence of moderate to severe depressive symptomatology in a substantial group of tinnitus patients; second, there should be evidence of a substantial relationship between depressive symptoms and tinnitus severity.Cross-sectional.Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Department of the Ghent University Hospital.In total, 136 consecutive help-seeking tinnitus patients were seen by a psychologist, an audiologist, and an ENT specialist. All patients filled in the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and underwent psychoacoustic measurement.Mean scores indicate the presence of no or minimal depressive symptoms. There was a positive correlation (P < .01) between the BDI-II and the THI. No correlations were found between psychoacoustic measures and the self-report questionnaires. Linear regression analysis was performed to examine the predictive role of the 3 components of depression (cognitive, somatic, and affective) in tinnitus severity. Results show that only the somatic depression subscale of the BDI-II significantly predicted tinnitus severity, which can be explained because of content overlap between the BDI-II and the THI.Tinnitus does not appear to be a problem related to depression. The authors did not find a substantial group of tinnitus patients with moderate to severe depressive symptoms. The relation between depressive symptoms and tinnitus severity seems to be an artifact of content overlap between the BDI-II and the THI.