The Frequency of Health Anxiety, Coronavirus Anxiety and Anxiety Disorder in Patients With Tinnitus During the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Impact of Pandemic on Tinnitus
Clinical Otolaryngology, cilt.49, sa.6, ss.725-732, 2024 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 49 Sayı: 6
- Basım Tarihi: 2024
- Doi Numarası: 10.1111/coa.14196
- Dergi Adı: Clinical Otolaryngology
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.725-732
- Anahtar Kelimeler: anxiety disorder, coronavirus anxiety, COVID-19, health anxiety, tinnitus
- Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Objectives: This study aimed to examine the frequency of anxiety disorder, coronavirus anxiety and health anxiety in tinnitus patients during the pandemic and also, determined the psychophysiological impact of COVID-19 on tinnitus. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary central pandemic hospital from 15 July 2021 to 15 December 2022. In total, 124 patients with tinnitus and 77 healthy controls participated in the study. The sociodemographic data, a set of valid and reliable assessment instruments were used to measure outcomes of anxiety disorder, coronavirus anxiety, health anxiety and severity of tinnitus. Results: Patients with tinnitus were found to experience higher levels of coronavirus anxiety, health anxiety and anxiety disorder than controls (p < 0.05). In tinnitus patients, the frequency of coronavirus anxiety was 22.6% and anxiety disorder was 18.5%. Notably, the levels of tinnitus severity were moderate to severe in more than half of the patients (51.6%) and also most of them (81.3%) reported that the severity of tinnitus during the pandemic was higher compared with the pre-pandemic. Conclusion: Tinnitus patients had high levels of anxiety disorder, coronavirus anxiety and health anxiety. In line with these findings, it was evaluated that there was a relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic with psychological problems and tinnitus. Therefore, the predominance of tinnitus symptoms at presentation should not lead the clinician to neglect the underlying psychopathological problems in these patients.