[Chronic tinnitus and allergies -- are they linked?].
BACKGROUND
Some neuro-otologic disorders are suspected to have a higher prevalence of allergies than is found in the population. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of allergies in patients with chronic tinnitus.


METHODS
102 tinnitus patients were mailed a survey containing a list of allergies, and asked to quote any allergy they were afflicted with. Additionally, they had to specify whether the diagnosis has been medically confirmed or not. Findings were compared to those from an age- and gender-matched control group.


RESULTS
32 % of tinnitus subjects (CI (95 %) = 42 - 24 %), but only 21 % of controls (CI (95 %) = 29 % - 13 %) had at least one medically diagnosed allergy. Regarding all (ie., diagnosed and non-diagnosed) allergies, 49 % of tinnitus subjects (CI (95 %) : 39 -59 %) versus 46 % (CI (95 %) : 37 -57 %) of controls stated to be afflicted with at least one allergy.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that the frequency of allergies in tinnitus patients is essentially equal to the allergy prevalence in the population as revealed from recent epidemiologic studies. We conclude that there is no increased risk for allergies in chronic tinnitus. The lower rate of medically diagnosed allergies in non-tinnitus subjects probably indicates that mild allergies are less frequently diagnosed in the group of otherwise healthy persons.
Weichbold
V
V
Klinische Abteilung für Hör-, Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Universitätskliniken Innsbruck (Leiter: O. Univ.-Prof. Dr. P. G. Zorowka). viktor.weichbold@uklibk.ac.at
Schmidt
A
A
Zorowka
P G
PG
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015984:Causality; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology