Standardized questionnaire for tinnitus developed in Japanese
Tinnitus
Researchers from the Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku, and from Machida Municipal Hospital, Machida, Tokyo, Japan have developed a Japanese version of the standardized tinnitus questionnaire for evaluating the clinical characteristics of patients.
They also collected data for over 580 patients and analyzed results.
The group published their findings in PlosOne in late August and indicated that their aim was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients with tinnitus in Japan on the basis of the newly developed Japanese version of the Tinnitus Sample Case History Questionnaire. This questionnaire was selected as a standardized questionnaire for obtaining patient case histories and for characterizing patients into subgroups at the Tinnitus Research Initiative in 2006.
In their study, the team assessed data for 584 patients who attended their institutions between August 2012 and March 2014. There were 280 men and 304 women aged 13 to 92 years (mean = 60.8). The collected data were compared with those from the Tinnitus Research Initiative’s database.
Results showed that the Japanese patient cohort had significantly more elderly women with tinnitus and fewer patients with trauma-associated tinnitus. Statistically, there was a lower ratio of patients with hyperacusis. The research team also found that patients with tinnitus along with hyperacusis had greater tinnitus severity and higher rates of various complications (headache, vertigo, pain, and psychiatric disorders).
The development of the assessment tool, and the preliminary findings for Japan, are useful for promoting international epidemiological comparisons of patient characteristics.
Source: PlosOne
