Increased Serum Lipid Levels in Patients with Subjective Tinnitus

The aim was to investigate the link between tinnitus and serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TRG), low-density (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in the central anatolian Turkish population.

The retrospective and case-control study included a total of 91 patients with subjective tinnitus and a control group of age- and sex-matched 65 healthy volunteers. A detailed otolaryngologic examination followed by pure tone audiometry, serum lipid values, and magnetic resonance imaging of the temporal bone was performed. The clinical characteristics of tinnitus were registered for all patients. The serum levels of TC, TRG, LDL and HDL were compared between the two groups.

Mean TC level was 200.57±41.06 mg/dL in the patient group and 179.0±39.03 mg/dL in the control group (P=0.001). Mean TRG level was 177.76±86.94 mg/dL in the patient group and 124.43±61.44 mg/dL in the control group (P=0.000). Mean LDL level was 115.88±32.56 mg/dL in the patient group and 101.31±34.42 mg/dL in the control group (P=0.008). Mean HDL level was 50.25±13.60 mg/dL in the patient group and 53.46±12.66 mg/dL in the control group (P=0.137). Among all the serum lipids, TC, TRG and LDL established a significant difference between the two groups.

The results indicated that TC, TRG and LDL levels were significantly higher in tinnitus group and this increase implicates the potential role of hyperlipidemia associated with altered lipid metabolism in the etiology of tinnitus. We suggest that serum lipid levels could be useful and conducive in the diagnosis and prognosis of tinnitus.