Alexithymia, depression and tinnitus in elderly people.
OBJECTIVE
Tinnitus is known to have an association with depression and other psychiatric disorders. As part of a larger epidemiological survey, we evaluated the associations among tinnitus, depression and alexithymia in a group of elderly people.


METHODS
A survey of hearing loss, audiological rehabilitation and associated morbidity in a senior population was conducted in Turku, Finland. The study sample consisted of 583 participants aged between 70 and 85 years. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to measure alexithymia, whereas the 13-item version of the Beck Depression Inventory was used to measure depression; the subjective experience of tinnitus was queried with a questionnaire.


RESULTS
Depression had a clear association with subjectively annoying tinnitus. Contrary to expectations, the TAS-20 score did not correlate with the severity of tinnitus. In fact, the highest TAS-20 scores were found among the subjects who had tinnitus but did not find it to be subjectively annoying. No significant association between high TAS-20 scores and hearing loss was found.


CONCLUSIONS
Although we found an association between TAS-20 scores and the presence of tinnitus, alexithymia does not seem to be helpful in explaining tinnitus annoyance among elderly people.
Salonen
Jaakko
J
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Turku University Central Hospital, P.O. Box 52, FIN-20521 Turku, Finland. jaakko.salonen@tyks.fi
Johansson
Reijo
R
Joukamaa
Matti
M
D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity / Q000639:trends; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000453:epidemiology*