Association between tinnitus and anxiety in the convalescent COVID-19 patients : a single-center observational study

Abstract EN

Introduction : After contracting COVID-19, some patients experienced tinnitus even though they did not have any hearing loss.

objectives : to investigate if COVID-19 infection-related anxiety may be the cause of tinnitus development in individuals who did not experience hearing loss.

patients and methods : our study included 120 participants with bilateral normal peripheral hearing who were divided into three groups.

the control group (group I) consisted of 40 patients who did not have any otological complaints or a history of COVID-19 infection.

the other two groups had a history of COVID-19 infection ; 40 patients of them had no otological complaints (group II), while the other 40 patients reported bilateral tinnitus after COVID-19 infection (group III).

all subjects underwent tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) and Hamilton anxiety (HAM-A) and measurement of the levels of inflammatory markers.

results : study group III showed statistically significant higher scores than the other two groups in THI, HAM-A, and the level of inflammatory markers.

relation between patient's results and types of graft used showed no statistically significant differences between them.

conclusion : tinnitus that developed in some normal hearing subjects after infection with COVID-19 may be caused by anxiety and stress.