Dataset Information

A narrative synthesis of research evidence for tinnitus-related complaints as reported by patients and their significant others.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There are a large number of assessment tools for tinnitus, with little consensus on what it is important to measure and no preference for a minimum reporting standard. The item content of tinnitus assessment tools should seek to capture relevant impacts of tinnitus on everyday life, but no-one has yet synthesised information about the range of tinnitus complaints. This review is thus the first comprehensive and authoritative collection and synthesis of what adults with tinnitus and their significant others report as problems in their everyday lives caused by tinnitus.

Methods

Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, as well as grey literature sources to identify publications from January 1980 to June 2015 in which participants were enrolled because tinnitus was their primary complaint. A manual search of seven relevant journals updated the search to December 2017. Of the 3699 titles identified overall, 84 records (reporting 86 studies) met our inclusion criteria and were taken through to data collection. Coders collated generic and tinnitus-specific complaints reported by people with tinnitus. All relevant data items were then analyzed using an iterative approach to narrative synthesis to form domain groupings representing complaints of tinnitus, which were compared patients and significant others.

Results

From the 86 studies analyzed using data collected from 16,381 patients, 42 discrete complaints were identified spanning physical and psychological health, quality of life and negative attributes of the tinnitus sound. This diversity was not captured by any individual study alone. There was good convergence between complaints collected using open- and closed-format questions, with the exception of general moods and perceptual attributes of tinnitus (location, loudness, pitch and unpleasantness); reported only using closed questions. Just two studies addressed data from the perspective of significant others (n?=?79), but there was substantial correspondence with the patient framework, especially regarding relationships and social life.

Conclusions

Our findings contribute fundamental new knowledge and a unique resource that enables investigators to appreciate the broad impacts of tinnitus on an individual. Our findings can also be used to guide questions during diagnostic assessment, to evaluate existing tinnitus-specific HR-QoL questionnaires and develop new ones, where necessary.

Trial registration

PROSPERO registration number: CRD42015020629 . Protocol published in BMJ Open. 2016;6e009171.

SUBMITTER: Hall DA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5896078 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A narrative synthesis of research evidence for tinnitus-related complaints as reported by patients and their significant others.

Hall Deborah Ann DA Fackrell Kathryn K Li Anne Beatrice AB Thavayogan Rachel R Smith Sandra S Kennedy Veronica V Tinoco Catarina C Rodrigues Evelina D ED Campelo Paula P Martins Tânia D TD Lourenço Vera Martins VM Ribeiro Diogo D Haider Haúla F HF

Health and quality of life outcomes 20180411 1

<h4>Background</h4>There are a large number of assessment tools for tinnitus, with little consensus on what it is important to measure and no preference for a minimum reporting standard. The item content of tinnitus assessment tools should seek to capture relevant impacts of tinnitus on everyday life, but no-one has yet synthesised information about the range of tinnitus complaints. This review is thus the first comprehensive and authoritative collection and synthesis of what adults with tinnitu ...[more]

PMID: 29642913

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Project description:Introduction Accumulating evidence suggests a role of the brainstem in tinnitus generation and modulation. Several studies in chronic tinnitus patients have reported latency and amplitude changes of the different peaks of the auditory brainstem response, possibly reflecting neural changes or altered activity. The aim of the systematic review was to assess if alterations within the brainstem of chronic tinnitus patients are reflected in short- and middle-latency auditory evoked potentials (AEPs). Methods A systematic review was performed and reported according to the PRISMA guidelines. Studies evaluating short- and middle-latency AEPs in tinnitus patients and controls were included. Two independent reviewers conducted the study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. Meta-analysis was performed using a multivariate meta-analytic model. Results Twenty-seven cross-sectional studies were included. Multivariate meta-analysis revealed that in tinnitus patients with normal hearing, significantly longer latencies of auditory brainstem response (ABR) waves I (SMD = 0.66 ms, p < 0.001), III (SMD = 0.43 ms, p < 0.001), and V (SMD = 0.47 ms, p < 0.01) are present. The results regarding possible changes in middle-latency responses (MLRs) and frequency-following responses (FFRs) were inconclusive. Discussion The discovered changes in short-latency AEPs reflect alterations at brainstem level in tinnitus patients. More specifically, the prolonged ABR latencies could possibly be explained by high frequency sensorineural hearing loss, or other modulating factors such as cochlear synaptopathy or somatosensory tinnitus generators. The question whether middle-latency AEP changes, representing subcortical level of the auditory pathway, are present in tinnitus still remains unanswered. Future studies should identify and correctly deal with confounding factors, such as age, gender and the presence of somatosensory tinnitus components. Systematic review registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021243687, PROSPERO [CRD42021243687].

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Dataset Information

A narrative synthesis of research evidence for tinnitus-related complaints as reported by patients and their significant others.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Trial registration

Publications

A narrative synthesis of research evidence for tinnitus-related complaints as reported by patients and their significant others.

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