BACKGROUND: Psychiatric comorbidity is common in patients who seek help for tinnitus. The perceived severity of tinnitus correlates closer to psychological and general health factors than to audiometrical parameters. Audiologists need valid screening tools in order to identify patients with psychiatric disorders and to tailor treatment in a multidisciplinary setting. The tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) has gained widespread acceptance as a self-report measure of tinnitus handicap. In several studies, THI test score correlates with the level of psychopathologic distress. The aim of our study was to investigate the predictive power of the test THI in relation to psychiatric disorders. METHODS: We recruited 156 patients with chronic tinnitus who have requested help at our tinnitus center. All patients underwent psychiatric evaluation, the diagnosis was made in agreement with the DSMIV-TR criteria; all patients filled out the following questionnaires: THI, Symptomatic Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and Stress-related Vulnerability Scale (VRS). Sensibility and specificity of tests as screening tool for psychiatric disorders was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients (prevalence: 43.59%) were found to be affected by a psychiatric disorder. AUC = 0.792 (p > 0.001) shows that THI is a moderately accurate test to individuate psychiatric affected people among our sample. We identified a score of 36 at THI (sensibility = 86.76%; specificity = 59.09%) as an appropriate cut-off point. CONCLUSIONS: If a patient reports a THI score greater than 36, the audiologist should supplement diagnostic studies with a psychiatric evaluation.
BACKGROUND:Psychiatric comorbidity is common in patients who seek help for tinnitus. The perceived severity of tinnitus correlates closer to psychological and general health factors than to audiometrical parameters. Audiologists need valid screening tools in order to identify patients with psychiatric disorders and to tailor treatment in a multidisciplinary setting. The tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) has gained widespread acceptance as a self-report measure of tinnitus handicap. In several studies, THI test score correlates with the level of psychopathologic distress. The aim of our study was to investigate the predictive power of the test THI in relation to psychiatric disorders. METHODS: We recruited 156 patients with chronic tinnitus who have requested help at our tinnitus center. All patients underwent psychiatric evaluation, the diagnosis was made in agreement with the DSMIV-TR criteria; all patients filled out the following questionnaires: THI, Symptomatic Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and Stress-related Vulnerability Scale (VRS). Sensibility and specificity of tests as screening tool for psychiatric disorders was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients (prevalence: 43.59%) were found to be affected by a psychiatric disorder. AUC = 0.792 (p > 0.001) shows that THI is a moderately accurate test to individuate psychiatric affected people among our sample. We identified a score of 36 at THI (sensibility = 86.76%; specificity = 59.09%) as an appropriate cut-off point. CONCLUSIONS: If a patient reports a THI score greater than 36, the audiologist should supplement diagnostic studies with a psychiatric evaluation.
Authors: Alessandra Fioretti; Eleonora Natalini; Gianluigi Triggianese; Rebecca Eibenstein; Anna Maria Angelone; Maria Lauriello; Alberto Eibenstein Journal: Audiol Res Date: 2022-06-15
Authors: Roland Moschen; Alessandra Fioretti; Alberto Eibenstein; Eleonora Natalini; Domenico Cuda; Giuseppe Chiarella; Gerhard Rumpold; David Riedl Journal: Front Psychol Date: 2018-01-31
Authors: Massimo Ralli; Richard J Salvi; Antonio Greco; Rosaria Turchetta; Armando De Virgilio; Giancarlo Altissimi; Giuseppe Attanasio; Giancarlo Cianfrone; Marco de Vincentiis Journal: PLoS One Date: 2017-11-21 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Massimo Ralli; Maria Paola Balla; Antonio Greco; Giancarlo Altissimi; Pasquale Ricci; Rosaria Turchetta; Armando de Virgilio; Marco de Vincentiis; Serafino Ricci; Giancarlo Cianfrone Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2017-09-08 Impact factor: 3.390