[Mental distress and quality of life in tinnitus patients]

Tinnitus is a disease with a high prevalence that is often combined with psychiatric comorbidity. The aim of this study was to identify the dimensions of quality of life in which tinnitus patients are especially affected, and how these affections change during a therapy, including a hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

120 patients suffering from tinnitus were examined at 3 time points: at the beginning (t1) and the end (t2) of a 2-week hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and 4 weeks later (t3). The following questionnaires were adopted: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, and the quality of life instrument EORTC QLQ-C30.

Compared with the general population, tinnitus patients were impaired in all areas of quality of life. The greatest differences were found in the scales Social, Cognitive, Emotional and Role Functioning and in the field of financial difficulties with effect sizes of about 1.5. During the therapy, the scores improved, reaching roughly the middle between the initial patients' scores and the values of the general population. The directly assessed subjective improvement due to the therapy was only marginally correlated with the differences in the questionnaires.

Since there was no control group without hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the results do not justify conclusions about the effectiveness of this therapy. However, the findings document multiple impairments of the patients (especially psycho-social disturbances) and show hints for supportive offers.