Abstract
To investigate if the anxiety associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a promoting factor to tinnitus. A retrospective research design collected from 188 tinnitus patients, was used to compare the clinical characteristics of tinnitus between the patients in 2020 under pandemic pressure and those from the matching period in 2019. While anxiety was quantified using the Zung’s Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), tinnitus severity was evaluated using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) questionnaire and the test of tinnitus loudness (TL). The assessments were repeated after the sound therapy plus educational counselling (STEC) for 38 patients in 2020 and 58 patients in 2019 and compared with EC alone therapy for 42 patients in 2020 and 17 patients in 2019. A large increase in anxiety was evident in 2020 in both case rate and SAS. The treatment of both methods was less effective in 2020. SAS, THI and TL were all deteriorated after the EC alone treatment in 2020, while an improvement was seen in 2019. This suggests that EC alone could not counteract the stress by COVID-19 at all, and the stress, if not managed well, can significantly increase the severity of tinnitus and associated anxiety. By using the EC subgroup in virtual control, we conclude that anxiety can serve as a promoting factor to tinnitus. We believe that this is the first study report that confirm the causative/promotive role of anxiety on tinnitus during COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has already reached pandemic proportions, affecting the majority of countries, areas, and territories across the world [1]
The present study explored whether anxiety was increased by the COVID-19 pandemic in subjects with tinnitus, and if so whether the increased anxiety affected the severity of tinnitus and the outcomes of tinnitus treatments
A moderate and positive linear relationship was seen between the initial Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) score and the change in patients receiving educational counseling (EC) alone in 2020 (r = 0.413, p = 0.006; Fig 4B) but not in 2019 (r = 0.488, ρ = 0.071). These results suggest that the treatment was more effective for mitigating anxiety in subjects with higher SAS scores in 2020, which was associated with the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has already reached pandemic proportions, affecting the majority of countries, areas, and territories across the world [1]. Worries about the spread of the disease, living difficulties, and financial burden related to the pandemic are likely to have had negative psychosocial impacts on residents, as reported by many recent studies [4,5,6]. It would be reasonable, to expect an increase in the incidence of disorders that are associated with psychological issues.
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