10% of Women Who Suffer Constant Ringing in Their Ears Attempt Suicide, Study Suggests

• The number of suicide attempts was higher among participants with any tinnitus (multivariate OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.03-1.28) and among those with severe tinnitus (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.04-1.66) (Table 2). This association was not observed for those with a formal diagnosis of tinnitus (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.67-1.26).

What does "formal diagnosis" mean? Because a German ENT network is using this study to promote a German CBT app for tinnitus by saying that only people with untreated tinnitus had an increased risk for suicide attempts.

Also, really sorry to hear that the journalist did such a poor job! I saw you explaining this on Twitter as well. Thank you for coming to Tinnitus Talk and for taking time out of your day to clarify things and answer questions!

(A bit off-topic: They only have a small account on Twitter and their outreach probably isn't significant but I need better scientific evidence to show that we, in fact, need medical treatments. And right now it seems like it's 1:0 for them.)

 

It probably means a doctor has entered an ICD-10 code of H93.13 into your patient record which means tinnitus.

@CederrothCr am I correct?

 

@Agrajag364, thank-you.

 

Did you know that 100% of people that commit suicide die?

 

How do I agree with this post 100 more times?

 

Thank you for offering to discuss this on Tinnitus Talk.

@CederrothCr are you personally aware of any number of suicides related to the tinnitus distress?

I am personally aware of three cases. Two of which were friends in counseling with me. Both were men. One was taken to the brink of homeless because he lost everything financially. He was poor. He was very intelligent and compassionate. The other was a very wealthy business man with a wife and two small kids. He lost nothing financially. He lost the ability to think and was taken down because of tinnitus.

The other was a policeman. I did not know personally. But, I contacted the publisher of his death by shotgun behind his shed and put him in contact with a tinnitus expert who was a part of a follow-up article.

In each case tinnitus was given little attention. The reasons were always because of depression or mental instability.

The statistic are there. But, few or if any state tinnitus as a cause. If it is written the claims are always to destroy any aspect of tinnitus as a cause for various reasons.

I am glad this was published also.

@Clint Azzopardi I understand your point. There is such a fine line dealing with this subject and I have yet to find a way to discuss it honestly and openly without worrying about the fear factor for newer members.

 

Tinnitus and suicide: An unresolved relation

 

Another unhelpful article.

 

@Frédéric Never thought I'd say this but I think you are sadistic.

 

Why?

 

@Ken219: sorry, there must be a mistake. I do not intend to be sadistic at all. I scan the internet daily to collect all scientific articles about tinnitus. I just relay them without self-censorship to inform all members of this forum.

 

• From the Daily Mail article:
  • About 15% of Americans - more than 50 million people - experience some form of tinnitus and two million have severe cases
  • Of the nearly 900 women in the study who had severe tinnitus, about 10% reported that they attempted to commit suicide
  • Getting diagnosed and treated could decrease suicide risk, researchers say

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How many women are at risk for suicide in America, due to tinnitus? Is there any data regarding male vs. female tinnitus rates, and severity differences if any?

From the ATA website:

Males get tinnitus more often than females
This disparity may be attributable to males being more represented in the workforce, particularly in loud professions such as manufacturing, construction, and military service. Men are also more likely to participate in high hearing-risk behavior, such as hunting and motorsports.

 

I was in that 10%.

 

I suggest using a filter. Report on scientific articles that gives hope!

 

Personally, I think articles and studies showing the severe side of tinnitus are needed to show how much of an impact tinnitus can have on someone and that there’s a dire need for medical treatments.

 

Not helpful on a forum.

Ask yourself - is this accurate? Is this helpful to someone who’s struggling?
If the answer to either one is a “no” then no need to post.

Has its place in awareness raising but no place on the forum. I’d be interested to see all of you post this on your social media, because that would be more useful.

 

Maybe we can speak about this article itself and share our opinions. Mine is:

I would not say that this article is completely unhelpful, it is a systematic review from the keywords "tinnitus" and "suicide". It has the merit of existing, just to take stock of this correlation, and to maintain awareness on our disease that remains a real torture in everyday life.

Do you think this subject of suicide should remain taboo?

Then what do you think about the interview with Gaby Olthuis's mom?

 

So if I went to an ENT that I felt was incompetent I should inform the 'Tinnitus Talk' community?

There should be a category of bad doctors? Only an opinion:
Mark Shikowitz

 

I think it's helpful, so it's not a clear "no" for me. Obviously it's a difficult topic as it could especially affect people new to tinnitus but I don't think that hiding the severe side will help either.

 

@Ken219 : It is already the case, many members reported their own (bad) experience on this forum (in the "support" or "introduce yourself" sections) with their ENT or Audiologist (some of them gave her/his name).

 

It is accurate.

If the forum would contain links to only the "feel-good" material, then the forum would be biased, and hence useless.

If you want "feel-good" fake material, I can send messages to you every day stating that you will be ok and that your tinnitus will be gone soon (no matter what your symptoms are or what I actually think). If that wouldn't be helpful then the self-censorship that you had suggested would also not work well.

 

Would you do that for me? I could use some good words. I'll be checking my conversation! Bill you are the best!

 

I haven't looked closely at stats like these for years, but as I recall it's long been true that men as group "successfully" commit suicide at higher rates than women, while women attempt suicide more frequently. And yes women have been closing the gap in completed suicides at least in Western countries.

Personally I see no problem with investigating sex-based differences in all kinds of health issues since it can help target treatment and interventions--because there are such differences. But I'm not familiar with that study and am very happy to say I won't be. Peace to all, the goal is to have treatment and cures for all.

 

I don’t want to hunt through this thread for an answer. Can anyone tell me if they have a number for men?

 

Yes, the study looked at men and women, the title of the article just doesn't make that clear.

Sex-Specific Association of Tinnitus With Suicide Attempts

 

Sex Differences in the Response to Different Tinnitus Treatment

Introduction: Tinnitus is a complex symptom requiring a thorough multidisciplinary assessment to construct an individual’s tinnitus profile. The Antwerp University Hospital hosts a tertiary tinnitus clinic providing intensive, multidisciplinary tinnitus care in the form of combinational psychological treatment with either Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT)/Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or TRT/eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS), and physical therapy treatment (in cases of somatic influence of the neck or the temporomandibular area). Several factors may contribute to therapy effect of which the role of gender has recently gained more interest. As such, the current manuscript explores gender differences in the outcome of different tinnitus treatments.

Methods: Data on treatment outcome of four distinct tinnitus treatments (1. HD-tDCS; 2. orofacial physical therapy; 3. combination TRT + CBT; and 4. combination TRT + EMDR) were pooled and compared. Treatment outcome was assessed via the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI). Participants completed the TFI at baseline, immediately after treatment and after 9 weeks (±3 weeks) follow-up. To explore the effect of gender on different treatment outcomes, a linear mixed model was designed including Time point, Gender, and Therapy Group as fixed factors as well as all interactions between these factors.

Results: TFI scores improved significantly over time regardless of therapy group (p < 0.0001). A mean TFI decrease of at least 13 points was obtained by all participants except by those in the HD-tDCS. Significant interactions between Gender and Time point were identified in all groups except for the TRT +EMDR group. Female subjects improved more extensively than males in the HD-tDCS (p = 0.0009) and orofacial therapy group (p = 0.0299). Contrarily, in the TRT +CBT group, male participants showed a significant improvement whereas the mean TFI scores of female subjects remained on baseline levels (p = 0.0138).

Conclusion: Our data suggest that male and female tinnitus patients seem to react differently to different therapy options. We strongly encourage further prospective studies to discern the relevance of gender in therapy outcome.

 

I quickly read this article: I did not see anywhere the cause of tinnitus. It is a pity.