The evaluation of global cognitive and emotional status of older patients with chronic tinnitus

Abstract Objectives Tinnitus is a common symptom largely impactful on quality of life, especially in the elderly. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of self‐administered screening tests to correlate the severity of subjective perception of tinnitus with emotional disorders and the overall cognitive status. Methods Patients aged ≥ 55 years with chronic tinnitus were recruited and submitted to a complete audiological evaluation; Tinnitus Handicap inventory (THI); Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS‐A and HADS‐D) and Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE). Demographic and audiological features of patients with and without cognitive impairment (MMSE score cut‐off of 24/30) were analyzed in order to reveal the relationship among tinnitus, emotional disorders, and cognitive dysfunction. Results 102 patients were recruited (mean age: 70.4 ± 9.6). THI score was directly related to HADS‐A score (r = .63) HADS‐D score (r = .66), whereas there was no relationship between tinnitus severity and MMSE (r = .13). CI and n‐CI groups did not differ in the characteristics of tinnitus (p > .05), however, hearing threshold (p = .049) and anxious depressive traits measured with HADS‐A (p = .044) and HADS‐D (p = .016) were significantly higher in the group with cognitive impairment. Furthermore, age ≥ 75 years (p = .002, OR = 13.8), female sex (p = .032; OR = 6.5), severe hearing loss (p = .036; OR = 2.3), and anxiety (p = .029; OR = 9.2) resulted risk factors for CI. Therefore, in CI group MMSE score was inversely related to age (r = −.84). Conclusions Cognitive impairment and psychiatric discomfort should be considered in tinnitus patients, related to increasing age, female sex, and severe hearing loss. Thus, self‐administered questionnaires can be useful in addressing clinical approach.