The International Tinnitus Journal

Increased Healthcare Utilization in Patients with Tinnitus

Mingee Kim*, David R. Friedland, Jazzmyne A. Adams, Masoud Khani, Jake Luo

Background: Tinnitus, characterized by a perception of sound in the absence of external stimuli, is a condition impacting millions of Americans. Recent international research revealed that patients with tinnitus had significantly increased healthcare utilization. That study did not control for age, a significant cofactor in health utilization. The present study uses a local US adult database and controls for age to assess the reproducibility and generalizability of the observed correlation. Methods: This retrospective study included 6,236 tinnitus patients, and 6,236 age, sex, and race matched controls, from a mid-west academic health system. Healthcare utilization parameters were assessed within one year before and after the initial tinnitus diagnosis. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for categorical analyses and Student t-test used for continuous variables. Results: Despite demographic and clinical equivalency between tinnitus and control populations, patterns of increased healthcare utilization were seen among individuals with tinnitus. Tinnitus patients had a mean of 8.57 primary care consultations compared to 1.04 for controls (p<.001). Tinnitus patients had a mean of 5.34 hospitalizations compared to 0.58 for controls (p<.001). Furthermore, tinnitus patients had a mean difference of 10.58 more new drug prescriptions and 23.02 more diagnoses of other conditions compared to controls (p<.001). Conclusions: Higher health care utilization is noted among a US cohort of patients with a tinnitus diagnosis when controlling for age, sex, and race. Further work is needed to identify whether increased medical comorbidities lead to tinnitus perception; or whether tinnitus heralds impending medical conditions and poorer overall health.