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Abstract
Objective: To assess the effects of tinnitus treatments on sleep disorders in patients with tinnitus. Design: Subjects completed the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), and State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The questionnaire results and the patients’ sex, age, time since the onset of tinnitus, and mean hearing level were examined, and differences between a sleep disorder group and a normal sleep group were examined. Patients completed the questionnaires again after initiating tinnitus treatments (counselling and use of sound generators), and the change in questionnaire scores at follow-up was evaluated. Study sample: Patients (N = 100) with tinnitus who visited Keio University Hospital and started treatment without medication between 2005 and 2008. Results: Sixty-six percent of the patients had sleep disorders. Compared with patients without sleep disorders, patients with sleep disorders had significantly higher SDS and STAI scores at the first visit. The mean PSQI scores showed significant improvement at follow-up. Conclusions: Sleep disorders in patients with tinnitus improved after tinnitus treatments. Complex interactions between depressive symptoms and anxiety may occur in these patients. The improvement in sleep disorders at follow-up was correlated with improvements in tinnitus severity and state anxiety.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank all the other otology and audiology staff in our department for helping us with treating patients and supporting our study. We also thank Prof. Takayuki Abe for his useful advice about statistics in this study. This study was presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Japan Audiological Society in 2012 in Kyoto, Japan.
Declaration of interest
We have no conflicts of interest to declare.