ICD-10 Symptom Rating questionnaire for assessment of psychological comorbidities in patients with chronic tinnitus.

Abstract

Tinnitus frequently occurs alongside psychological comorbidities whose assessment is important for treatment planning and -success. The selection of suitable questionnaires is thus crucial. The present study aims to investigate the ICD-10 Symptom Rating (ISR) to this regard. The current study investigated tinnitus burden and psychological comorbidities in asample of N = 311 patients with chronic tinnitus. All participants completed an intensive 7‑day multimodal tinnitus-specific therapy. Tinnitus burden was measured using the German version of the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ). Psychological comorbidities were measured using the ISR (total score, depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, somatoform disorder, and eating disorder), the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ; total score, tension, worries, joy, and demands), and the General Depression Scale (Allgemeine Depressionsskala, ADS). Sixty-five percent of participants suffered from psychological comorbidities. Treatment response comprised improvements in the TQ, ISQ, PSQ and ADS. At baseline, tinnitus-burden correlated with the ISR-total, ISR-obsessive-compulsive disorder and PSQ-tension scores. Post treatment, the-now reduced-tinnitus burden was additionally predicted by ISR-depressive and eating disorder scores. The ISR is a useful tool for measuring psychological comorbidities in patients with chronic tinnitus as well as short-term treatment response. Therapeutic approaches for chronic tinnitus should address stress-related tension, depressive symptomatology and coping strategies such as maladaptive eating behaviours.