Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33303456›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2020

Natural history of tinnitus in adults: a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis.

Piers Dawes, John Newall, David Stockdale, David M Baguley

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.

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  13. Tinnitus: Clinical Insights in Its Pathophysiology-A Perspective.Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO · 2024
    Review
  14. Greenness, Genetic Predisposition, and Tinnitus.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
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  19. Tinnitus and the Triple Network Model: A Perspective.Clinical and experimental otorhinolaryngology · 2022
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Piers DawesManchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK piers.dawes@manchester.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0003-3180-9884
John NewallThe Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-3180-9884
David StockdaleBritish Tinnitus Association, Sheffield, UK.
David M BaguleyDepartment of Hearing Sciences, Division of Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Universityof Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
British Tinnitus Association · GBMacquarie University · AUNottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust · GBUniversity of Manchester · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo assess incidence and changes in tinnitus and bothersome tinnitus as well as associated risk factors in a large sample of UK adults.

designProspective cohort study.

settingUK.

participantsFor cross-sectional analysis, a group of 168 348 participants aged between 40 and 69 years with hearing and tinnitus data from the UK Biobank resource. Longitudinal analysis included a subset of 4746 people who attended a 4-year retest assessment.

main outcome measuresPresence and bothersomeness of tinnitus.

results17.7% and 5.8% of participants reported tinnitus or bothersome tinnitus, respectively. The 4-year incidence of tinnitus was 8.7%. Multivariate logistic regression models suggested that age, hearing difficulties, work noise exposure, ototoxic medication and neuroticism were all positively associated with both tinnitus and bothersome tinnitus. Reduced odds of tinnitus, but not bothersome tinnitus, was seen in alcohol drinkers versus non-drinkers. Male gender was associated with increased odds of tinnitus, while female gender was associated with increased odds of bothersome tinnitus. At follow-up, of those originally reporting tinnitus, 18.3% reported no tinnitus. Of those still reporting tinnitus, 9% reported improvement and 9% reported tinnitus becoming more bothersome, with the rest unchanged. Male gender and alcohol consumption were associated with tinnitus being reported less bothersome, and hearing difficulties were associated with the odds of tinnitus being reported as more bothersome.

conclusionsThis study is one of the few to provide data on the natural history of tinnitus in a non-clinical population, suggesting that resolution is relatively uncommon, with improvement and worsening of symptoms equally likely. There was limited evidence for any modifiable lifestyle factors being associated with changes in tinnitus symptoms. In view of the largely persistent nature of tinnitus, public health strategies should focus on: (1) primary prevention and (2) managing symptoms in people that have tinnitus and monitoring changes in bothersomeness.

Indexed as

Hearing LossTinnitusAdultAgedCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHearingHumansMaleMiddle AgedProspective Studiesadult otolaryngologyaudiologyepidemiology

Identifiers

PMID33303456
PMCPMC7733183
OpenAlexW3112471427

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.