Bidirectional Association of Tinnitus and Psychological Distress Among Nurses at One-year Follow-up: A Propensity Score-matched Cohort Study From China.

PURPOSE: The association between tinnitus and psychological distress aimed at nurses is often ignored. This study examined the bidirectional associations between tinnitus and psychological distress at the 1-year follow-up.

METHODS

Data were retrieved from the National Nurse Health Study in China from 2021 to 2022. To control for potential confounders, we used propensity score matching at a ratio of 1:3 through the nearest-neighbor method with a caliper limit of 0.2. We first explored the correlation between baseline tinnitus and subsequent psychological distress assessed by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (Analysis 1), and then explored the correlation between baseline psychological distress and subsequent tinnitus (Analysis 2). The logistic regression analysis and test for interaction were used.

RESULTS

In the Analysis one, 232 nurses were analyzed, including 58 tinnitus sufferers and 174 non-tinnitus nurses as a matched comparison with similar baseline characteristics. A significant difference in the rate of psychological distress was observed between the two groups. The interaction tests showed tinnitus nurses with college or above education or working for more than 11 years were more likely to develop psychological distress. In the Analysis two, 397 nurses were analyzed, including 105 with psychological distress, and 292 nurses as a matched control group. We did not find that psychological distress could increase the risk of tinnitus at the 1-year follow-up, which was confirmed by subgroup analysis.

CONCLUSION

The results suggested that nurses with tinnitus may be at an increased likelihood of developing psychological distress, especially among those with a higher education level and who have worked for 11 years. However, given the potential confounding factors (e.g., self-reported data, small sample size), future longitudinal studies with larger cohorts are needed to confirm these results.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: The study was registered in Clinicaltrials.gov on September 30th, 2020 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04572347).