Analysis of Depression and Anxiety in Patients With Tinnitus: A Focus on Specific Age Groups and Sex-Related Differences.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationships between anxiety, depression, and insomnia and tinnitus severity among high-functioning employed adults, stratified by age and gender, and to describe age- and gender-specific patterns of prevalence and symptom burden in order to support a biopsychosocial framework for understanding tinnitus onset, progression, and clinical management.

METHODS

An analysis was performed on data from 745 patients with chronic subjective tinnitus, aged 25-60 years, to assess levels of anxiety (HADS-A), depression (HADS-D), insomnia (ISI), and the perceived severity of tinnitus (THI and VAS).

RESULTS

The findings showed that anxiety was significantly correlated with the tinnitus Handicap Inventory in younger patients, particularly in men (r = 0.611, p  < 0.001) and women (r = 0.577, p  < 0.001) aged 25-40 years. In women aged 51-60 years, depression demonstrated the strongest association with tinnitus (r = 0.545, p  < 0.001). In the overall cohort, insomnia exhibited a weak but statistically significant correlation with tinnitus (r ≤ 0.3). Additionally, women were more likely to link tinnitus loudness to reduced quality of life, especially in the 25-40 (r = 0.722, p  < 0.01) and 51-60 (r = 0.689, p  < 0.01) age groups.

CONCLUSION

The findings indicate that anxiety in younger patients is closely related to tinnitus, whereas depressive symptoms are more prominent among middle-aged and older women. These variations indicate that patients with tinnitus may present different psychological profiles across gender and age groups. Future research may further explore the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of tinnitus and examine its progression through long-term follow-up to improve understanding of its clinical heterogeneity.