Correlation of non-auditory comorbidities and hearing loss in chronic subjective tinnitus patients: a retrospective database study

Tziridis K, Neubert B, Seehaus A, Krauß P, Schilling A, Brüggemann P, Mazurek B, Schulze H (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Frontiers in Neurology Frontiers Research Foundation / Frontiers Media

Book Volume: 16

Article Number: 1596274

DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1596274

Abstract

Background: Tinnitus is a symptom often associated with hearing loss (HL). Its development and progression are still not completely clear, as the heterogeneity of tinnitus-related HL data is high. Here, we attempt to investigate whether a part of this variance can be correlated with single or combinations of non-auditory comorbidities using pure-tone audiometric data in a collective of chronic subjective tinnitus patients. Methods: The information of 136 tinnitus patient files was extracted retrospectively. The patients did not suffer from any auditory impairment except a possible HL and tinnitus; non-auditory comorbidities were identified from the files and categorized by their ICD-10 category. Comorbidity classes were endocrine/metabolic diseases, psychiatric/behavioral disorders, diseases of the central nervous system, diseases of the circulatory system, diseases of the respiratory system, diseases of the digestive system, and muscle-skeletal diseases. The pure-tone audiometry data, as well as tinnitus pitch and loudness, were correlated with their non-auditory comorbidity classes and patients’ age group using non-parametric and parametric analyses, where appropriate. Results: Depending on the age group, the number of comorbidities could lead to a significant increase or decrease in HL. Only in older patients, a linear correlation between the number of non-auditory comorbidities and an increase in HL could be found. Moreover, the correlation between maximal HL frequency and tinnitus frequency can only be seen in specific age and comorbidity-number groups. Only some specific non-auditory comorbidity classes showed significant effects (decrease or increase) on HL in specific age groups. Conclusion: Taken together, we argue that in future tinnitus patient studies, non-auditory comorbidities should be taken into account as possible covariables that might explain the variance found in the auditory threshold development of these patients.

Authors with CRIS profile

Konstantin Tziridis Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (HNO-Klinik) Benjamin Neubert Professur für Experimentelle HNO-Heilkunde Anna Seehaus Professur für Experimentelle HNO-Heilkunde Patrick Krauß Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (HNO-Klinik) Achim Schilling Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Klinische Forschung IZKF-Förderlinien Holger Schulze Professur für Experimentelle HNO-Heilkunde

Involved external institutions

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Tziridis, K., Neubert, B., Seehaus, A., Krauß, P., Schilling, A., Brüggemann, P.,... Schulze, H. (2025). Correlation of non-auditory comorbidities and hearing loss in chronic subjective tinnitus patients: a retrospective database study. Frontiers in Neurology, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2025.1596274

MLA:

Tziridis, Konstantin, et al. "Correlation of non-auditory comorbidities and hearing loss in chronic subjective tinnitus patients: a retrospective database study." Frontiers in Neurology 16 (2025).

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