title: Impact of a relaxation training on psychometric and immunologic parameters in tinnitus sufferers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Tinnitus often entails severe psychological distress. Reversely, tinnitus may be considered as a chronic stressor. Based on this hypothesis, we investigated whether improving stress-managing capabilities would influence psychological and stress-related immunological parameters in chronic tinnitus sufferers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tinnitus (TPs, n=26) and non-tinnitus participants (NTPs, n=13) took part in a standardised 10-week relaxation program. An additional group of tinnitus sufferers (n=18), randomly assigned to a waiting list, served as control (TC) subjects. Mood, perceived stress, global quality of life, and tinnitus disturbance were assessed before and after the intervention. The stress-sensitive immunological parameters TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-10 were measured before, during, and at the end of the intervention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The program resulted in a significantly decreased perception of stress, anxious depression, anger, and tinnitus disturbance, paralleled by a reduction of TNF-alpha. No alterations were noted for IL-6 or IL-10. For the NTPs and TCs, no relevant psychological or immune changes could be observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data suggest that (1) the training offered improved stress-managing capabilities in chronic tinnitus sufferers, and (2) TNF-alpha may be conceived as a stress marker.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Internal Medicine-Psychosomatics, Charité Campus Virchow Clinic, Medical School of the Humboldt University, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany. cora.weber@charite.de
authors.forename: Cora
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arck
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazurek
authors.forename: Burghard F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Klapp
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D011897:Random Allocation; D012064:Relaxation Therapy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy*; D013663:Teaching; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000523:psychology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016753:Interleukin-10