Investigating the association between tinnitus severity and symptoms of depression and anxiety, while controlling for neuroticism, in a large middle-aged UK population

Figures & data

Table 1. Symptoms of depression and anxiety within UK Biobank.

Symptom	Measure of depression and/or anxiety	Question	Responses (bold responses indicate positive response)
Frequency of depressed mood in last two weeks	Depression	Over the past two weeks, how often have you felt down, depressed or hopeless?	Not at all Several days More than half the days Nearly every day Do not know Prefer not to answer
Frequency of tiredness / lethargy in last two weeks	Depression/Anxiety	Over the past two weeks, how often have you felt tired or had little energy?
Frequency of unenthusiasm/disinterest in last two weeks	Depression	Over the past two weeks, how often have you had little interest or pleasure in doing things?
Frequency of tenseness/restlessness in last two weeks	Depression/Anxiety	Over the past two weeks, how often have you felt tense, fidgety, or restless?
Sleeplessness/insomnia	Depression/Anxiety	Do you have trouble falling asleep at night or do you wake up in the middle of the night?	Never/rarely Sometimes Usually Prefer not to answer
Guilty feelings	Depression	Are you often troubled by feelings of guilt?	Yes No Do not know Prefer not to answer
Worrier/anxious feelings	Anxiety	Are you a worrier?
Irritability	Anxiety	Are you an irritable person?

Table 2. Characteristics of UK Biobank participants. Number (item response percentages in brackets) and performance of participants completing each question. Response percentages relate to available data. Mean ± sd; % + ve: percent positive responses to each question. Mental health questions show number of questions responded as yes (depression and anxiety symptoms, and neuroticism), responding happy (health-related quality of life).

	Female		Male		All
Demographics	N (%)	Mean ± sd % positive	N (%)	Mean ± sd % positive	N (%)	Mean ± sd % positive
Sex	93 484 (100%)	54%	78 244 (100%)	46%	171 728 (100%)	100%
Age	93 484 (100%)	56.5 ± 8.0 years	78 244 (100%)	57.0 ± 8.2 years	171 728 (100%)	56.7 ± 8.1 years
Townsend deprivation decile	93 338 (> 99%)	4.15 ± 2.70	78 107 (> 99%)	4.18 ± 2.74	171 445 (> 99%)	4.17 ± 2.72
Auditory questions
Hearing difficulty	87 325 (93%)	23%	74 511 (95%)	33%	161 836 (94%)	27%
SRT (better ear; dB)	87 650 (94%)	− 7.4 ± 1.6 dB	73 305 (94%)	− 7.4 ± 1.8 dB	160 955 (94%)	− 7.4 ± 1.7dB
Current tinnitus	91 284 (98%)	15%	76 182 (97%)	21%	167 466 (98%)	18%
Mental health questions
Depression symptoms*	81 263 (87%)	0.94 ± 1.15	69 371 (89%)	0.70 ± 1.06	150 634 (88%)	0.83 ± 1.12
Anxiety symptoms*	81 974 (88%)	1.39 ± 1.13	69 338 (89%)	1.15 ± 1.13	151 312 (88%)	1.28 ± 1.13
Health-related quality of life (happy)	92 708 (99%)	86%	77 702 (99%)	86%	170 410 (99%)	86%
Neuroticism	72 501 (78%)	4.77 ± 3.27	62 830 (80%)	3.97 ± 3.26	135 331 (79%)	4.40 ± 3.29

*Defined in the text.

Table 3. Generalized linear modelling of reporting depression symptoms and anxiety symptoms (reference levels shown in brackets).

	Depression symptoms		Anxiety symptoms
Variable	Odds ratio (95% CI)	p	Odds ratio (95% CI)	p
Sex (female)	0.87 (0.86–0.88)	< 0.001	0.93 (0.93–0.94)	< 0.001
Age at recruitment (40–44)
45–49	1.03 (1.01–1.04)	0.001	1.01 (1.00–1.03)	0.106
50–54	1.06 (1.04–1.08)	< 0.001	1.05 (1.03–1.06)	< 0.001
55–59	1.03 (1.01–1.05)	< 0.001	1.05 (1.04–1.07)	< 0.001
60–64	0.96 (0.95–0.98)	< 0.001	1.06 (1.04–1.07)	< 0.001
65–69	0.96 (0.94–0.97)	< 0.001	1.06 (1.05–1.08)	< 0.001
Deprivation score	1.32 (1.29–1.34)	< 0.001	1.04 (1.03–1.05)	< 0.001
Hearing difficulty (no)	1.04 (1.03–1.05)	< 0.001	1.04 (1.03–1.05)	< 0.001
SRT - better ear	1.01 (1.01–1.01)	< 0.001	1.00 (1.00–1.00)	0.036
Current tinnitus (none)
Not problematic	1.05 (1.03–1.08)	< 0.001	1.01 (0.99–1.03)	0.203
Slight	1.08 (1.06–1.09)	< 0.001	1.03 (1.02–1.04)	< 0.001
Moderate	1.16 (1.14–1.19)	< 0.001	1.07 (1.05–1.09)	< 0.001
Severe	1.27 (1.23–1.33)	< 0.001	1.11 (1.07–1.15)	< 0.001
Health related quality of life satisfaction (unhappy)	0.63 (0.62–0.64)	< 0.001	0.77 (0.76–0.77)	< 0.001
Neuroticism (0–2)
3–5	2.38 (2.34–2.41)	< 0.001	2.59 (2.56–2.62)	< 0.001
6–9	4.17 (4.11–4.24)	< 0.001	4.12 (4.07–4.16)	< 0.001
10–13	6.00 (5.90–6.10)	< 0.001	5.73 (5.65–5.80)	< 0.001