Psychological morbidity and resilience associated with tinnitus in a Sri Lankan population

Objective

Tinnitus is a common and debilitating health condition. It is often associated with psychiatric morbidity. This important health concern has not been studied previously in Sri Lanka. We aimed to determine the prevalence of psychological morbidity, resilience and their correlates among a cohort of Sri Lankan patients with tinnitus.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among attendees of otolaryngology clinics in three Sri Lankan hospitals, using a specially designed questionnaire. Resilience was defined as absence of psychological morbidity and functional impairment.

Results

Of the 200 patients included in the study, 82.5% reported functional impairment due to tinnitus. The majority of participants were found to have depression (61.5%). Sleep disturbance, feeling exhausted, loudness of tinnitus and functional impairment were significantly associated with psychological morbidity. Only 12% of participants were resilient and it was associated with mind-fulness and ability to distract self.

Conclusions

Tinnitus is a distressing illness associated with a significant functional impairment and psychiatric morbidity. We discuss the implication of this study for clinical practice.