TY - JOUR
T1 - The Impact of COVID-19 Confinement on Tinnitus and Hearing Loss in Older Adults
T2 - Data From the LOST in Lombardia Study
AU - Jarach, Carlotta Micaela
AU - Lugo, Alessandra
AU - Stival, Chiara
AU - Bosetti, Cristina
AU - Amerio, Andrea
AU - Cavalieri d'Oro, Luca
AU - Iacoviello, Licia
AU - Odone, Anna
AU - Stuckler, David
AU - Zucchi, Alberto
AU - van den Brandt, Piet
AU - Garavello, Werner
AU - Cederroth, Christopher R
AU - Schlee, Winfried
AU - Gallus, Silvano
AU - LOST in Lombardia Study Investigators
N1 - Copyright © 2022 Jarach, Lugo, Stival, Bosetti, Amerio, Cavalieri d'Oro, Iacoviello, Odone, Stuckler, Zucchi, van den Brandt, Garavello, Cederroth, Schlee, Gallus and the LOST in Lombardia Study Investigators.
PY - 2022/3/7
Y1 - 2022/3/7
N2 - Background: Although a direct relationship between tinnitus or hearing difficulties and COVID-19 has been suggested, current literature provides inconsistent results, and no research has been undertaken in older adults.Methods: In November 2020, we conducted the LOST in Lombardia survey, a telephone-based cross-sectional study on a sample of 4,400 individuals representative of the general population aged ≥65 years from Lombardy region, Northern Italy. Individuals with diagnosed tinnitus and/or hearing loss were asked whether their conditions had improved or deteriorated in 2020 compared to 2019.Results: Overall, 8.1% of older adults reported a diagnosis of tinnitus and 10.5% of hearing loss. In 2020 compared to 2019, among individuals with tinnitus, those with increasing severity (5.0%) were similar to those decreasing it (5.3%). Among individuals with hearing loss, more people reported an increase (13.6%) than a decrease (3.2%) in their disease severity. No individual with a diagnosis in 2020 of tinnitus (
n = 6) or hearing loss (
n = 13) had COVID-19. The incidence of tinnitus was lower in 2020 (rate: 14.8 per 10,000 person-years) than in previous years (rate in 1990-2019: 36.0 per 10,000 person-years;
p = 0.026). There was no change in the incidence of hearing loss (
p = 0.134).
Conclusions: In this large representative sample of older adults, on average neither COVID-19 confinement nor SARS-CoV-2 infection appeared to increase the severity or incidence of tinnitus. The increased severity of hearing difficulties may totally or partially be explained by physiologic deterioration of the condition, or by a misperception due to the use of face-masks.
AB - Background: Although a direct relationship between tinnitus or hearing difficulties and COVID-19 has been suggested, current literature provides inconsistent results, and no research has been undertaken in older adults.Methods: In November 2020, we conducted the LOST in Lombardia survey, a telephone-based cross-sectional study on a sample of 4,400 individuals representative of the general population aged ≥65 years from Lombardy region, Northern Italy. Individuals with diagnosed tinnitus and/or hearing loss were asked whether their conditions had improved or deteriorated in 2020 compared to 2019.Results: Overall, 8.1% of older adults reported a diagnosis of tinnitus and 10.5% of hearing loss. In 2020 compared to 2019, among individuals with tinnitus, those with increasing severity (5.0%) were similar to those decreasing it (5.3%). Among individuals with hearing loss, more people reported an increase (13.6%) than a decrease (3.2%) in their disease severity. No individual with a diagnosis in 2020 of tinnitus (
n = 6) or hearing loss (
n = 13) had COVID-19. The incidence of tinnitus was lower in 2020 (rate: 14.8 per 10,000 person-years) than in previous years (rate in 1990-2019: 36.0 per 10,000 person-years;
p = 0.026). There was no change in the incidence of hearing loss (
p = 0.134).
Conclusions: In this large representative sample of older adults, on average neither COVID-19 confinement nor SARS-CoV-2 infection appeared to increase the severity or incidence of tinnitus. The increased severity of hearing difficulties may totally or partially be explained by physiologic deterioration of the condition, or by a misperception due to the use of face-masks.
KW - COVID-19
KW - MENTAL-HEALTH
KW - PREVALENCE
KW - cross-sectional study
KW - hearing loss
KW - older adults
KW - tinnitus
U2 - 10.3389/fneur.2022.838291
DO - 10.3389/fneur.2022.838291
M3 - Article
C2 - 35330807
SN - 1664-2295
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Neurology
JF - Frontiers in Neurology
M1 - 838291
ER -