The Lifelines Cohort Study: Prevalence of Tinnitus Associated Suffering and Behavioral Outcomes in Children and Adolescents.
Sebastiaan M Meijers, Jessica H J de Ruijter, Robert J Stokroos and 2 others
PMID 38982557WHAT IT FOUND
Reported suffering from ringing ears was more common in adolescents than children and was linked to anxiety, depression, somatic complaints, attention problems, fatigue and poorer peer relationships.
Key findings
01In children aged 4 to 12, 3.0% suffered a bit, 0.3% suffered a lot and none suffered extremely; in adolescents aged 13 to 17, 10.9% suffered a bit, 1.4% suffered a lot and 0.5% suffered extremely.
02In children, tinnitus suffering was linked to anxious/depressed, withdrawn/depressed, somatic complaints and social problems, and to thought and attention problems in girls only; in adolescents, it was linked to all Youth Self Report behavioral domains.
03Tinnitus suffering was linked to higher fatigue and lower social functioning in both age groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study did not test hearing, so it could not examine hearing loss, a known risk factor for tinnitus. It asked how much ringing bothered the child or adolescent, not whether tinnitus was present or how long it lasted. The data were collected at one assessment, so the study cannot show whether tinnitus suffering caused behavioral problems or whether behavioral problems made tinnitus more bothersome. For children under 13, parents or caregivers reported tinnitus suffering, and parents may not notice their child's tinnitus. The four-level tinnitus suffering answer was combined into suffering or no suffering because few children were in the severe categories, which may oversimplify the experience. There is no agreed definition of pediatric tinnitus, so results may not be directly comparable with other studies. No data are available on whether the pediatric Lifelines population represents all children in the northern Netherlands.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the links between tinnitus suffering and behavioral problems as proof that tinnitus causes them. The study measured tinnitus suffering and behavioral scores at the same time, so it cannot show which came first.