Abstract
Background
The potential influence of tinnitus on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality has yet to be explored. We aim to examine the correlations between tinnitus and the risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality.
Methods
We conducted a prospective cohort study utilising data from the UK Biobank. The presence of tinnitus was evaluated through a questionnaire. The primary outcome was defined as a composition of cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and mortality from CVD, as well as all-cause mortality. Cox proportional hazard models were employed to examine the associations between tinnitus and both the primary outcome and its individual components. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate the robustness of the primary analysis.
Results
A total of 140,146 participants were included in the study. The presence of tinnitus was found to be associated with a higher incident rate of the primary outcome (HR = 1.057, 95%CI: 1.017–1.099, p = 0.005), MI (HR = 1.139, 95%CI: 1.061–1.222, p < 0.001) and all-cause mortality (HR = 1.053, 95%CI: 1.003–1.105, p = 0.038) after adjusting for confounders. However, there was no significant association between tinnitus and stroke or mortality from CVD. Subgroup analysis revealed that the association between tinnitus and the primary outcome was significant in females, participants with abnormal BMI, and those without hearing difficulty, depression or anxiety. Sensitivity analyses yielded consistent results.
Conclusion
The findings from this study contribute to the existing body of evidence suggesting an association between tinnitus and an increased risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality.
Author contributions
Hai-Feng Zhang conceived the original idea. Yi-Peng Zhang, Qing-Yuan Gao and Jing-Wei Gao conducted the data preparation and analysis. Yi-Peng Zhang wrote the first draft of the article. Yi-Peng Zhang, Qing-Yuan Gao and Jing-Wei Gao are co-first authors. All authors directly participated in the interpretation of the results, provided critical comments to the article, and revised the text. All authors of this research article have read and approved the final version submitted. Yi-Peng Zhang, Hai-Feng Zhang and Jing-Feng Wang had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for its integrity and the data analysis.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).