Is there an association between the parameters of arterial stiffness and tinnitus?

Abstract

Background: Increasing arterial stiffness is associated with atherosclerosis and there is an association between atherosclerosis and tinnitus may occur.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between arterial stiffness and tinnitus using the central pulse-wave analysis method.

Methods: This prospective, single center study included 98 participants, comprising 49 patients diagnosed with subjective idiopathic tinnitus (Group 1) and a control group of 49 healthy subjects (Group 2). The Mobil-O-Graph 24 h Pulse wave analysis (PWA) Monitor (I.E.M. GmbH, Stolberg, Germany) was used to determine the arterial stiffness and cardiovascular hemodynamic parameters. Central pulse pressure (CPP), Augmentation index and pulse wave velocity (PWV) were obtained with the device.

Results: No statistically significant difference was determined between Groups in respect of age, smoking and hypertension (p > .05). Statistically significantly higher Central Pulse Pressure (CPP) values and pulse wave velocity were higher in Group 1 compared to the control group (p < .005). No statistical variation was detected in terms of the augmentation index (18.5 ± 11.3 vs 16.7 ± 10.3, p = .543).

Conclusion: Our results marked that arterial stiffness is associated with tinnitus. The relationship was examined via oscillometric method, which is simple to perform and has been recommended in guidelines for the determination of cardiovascular event risk.

Chinese abstract

背景：动脉硬化增加与动脉粥样硬化相关, 而动脉粥样硬化又与耳鸣可能相关。

目的：应用中心脉搏波分析法来探讨动脉硬化与耳鸣的关系。

方法：这项前瞻性的单中心研究包括98名参与者, 其中有被诊断为主观性特发性耳鸣的49名患者（组1）和对照组的49名健康受试者（组2）。采用Mobil-O-Graph 24 h脉搏波分析（PWA）监护仪（即德国斯托尔伯格的I.E.M. GmbH）测定动脉硬度和心血管血流动力学参数。利用该装置获得了中心脉压（CPP）、增强指数和脉搏波速度（PWV）。

结果：两组在年龄、吸烟、高血压等方面差异无统计学意义（p>0.05）。与对照组相比, 第1组的中心脉压（CPP）值和脉搏波速度较高（p<0.005）。增强指数无统计学差异（18.5±11.3 相对于 16.7±10.3, p =0.543）。

结论：动脉僵硬与耳鸣有关。这种关系通过示波法进行检查。该法操作简单, 心血管病风险测定指南已推荐此法。

Keywords:

• Tinnitus
• arterial stiffness
• pulse wave velocity
• oscillometric method

Acknowledgment

The manuscript is presented as a poster in 39. National Turkish Otolaryngology Congress. 2017, Antalya. Before starting the study, we take permission from ethical board of Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine. We have informed consent for the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest is reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.