Table 2.
Participant Characteristics Comparing Tinnitus With No Tinnitus per 5-Year Age Category.
| Population, No. (%) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Total | Tinnitus | No tinnitus | P value | |
| 50-54 y | |||||
| Participants | 382 | 382 | 79 (20.7) | 303 (79.3) | |
| Male | 382 | 159 (41.6) | 36 (45.6) | 123 (40.6) | .424 |
| Education | 382 | .457 | |||
| Lower | 125 (32.7) | 28 (35.4) | 97 (32.0) | ||
| Middle | 144 (37.7) | 25 (31.6) | 119 (39.3) | ||
| Higher | 113 (29.6) | 26 (32.9) | 87 (28.7) | ||
| Hearing | |||||
| Threshold, dB HLa | 317 | 18.7 (11.0) | 22.1 (10.8) | 17.7 (10.9) | .004 |
| Impairment ≥25 dB HLb | 317 | 21 (6.6) | 11 (16.2) | 10 (4.0) | <.001 |
| Tinnitus impairment daily life | 382 | 8 (2.1) | 8 (10.1) | — | |
| THI-s | |||||
| Scorec | 39 | 4 (0, 8) | 4 (0, 8) | — | |
| ≥16d | 39 | 6 (1.6) | 6 (15.4) | — | |
| 55-59 y | |||||
| Participants | 829 | 829 | 172 (20.7) | 657 (79.3) | |
| Male | 829 | 360 (43.4) | 80 (46.5) | 280 (42.6) | .406 |
| Education | 829 | .711 | |||
| Lower | 289 (34.9) | 63 (36.6) | 226 (34.4) | ||
| Middle | 263 (31.7) | 56 (32.6) | 207 (31.5) | ||
| Higher | 277 (33.4) | 53 (30.8) | 224 (34.1) | ||
| Hearing | |||||
| Threshold, dB HLa | 671 | 19.9 (11.6) | 23.4 (14.8) | 19.0 (10.3) | .001 |
| Impairment ≥25 dB HLb | 671 | 56 (8.3) | 18 (12.7) | 38 (7.2) | .036 |
| Tinnitus impairment daily life | 829 | 27 (3.3) | 27 (15.9) | — | |
| THI-s | |||||
| Scorec | 87 | 4 (0, 12) | 4 (0, 12) | — | |
| ≥16d | 87 | 14 (1.7) | 14 (16.1) | — | |
| 60-64 y | |||||
| Participants | 953 | 953 | 191 (20.0) | 762 (80.0) | |
| Male | 953 | 406 (42.6) | 98 (51.3) | 308 (40.4) | .007 |
| Education | 953 | .596 | |||
| Lower | 439 (46.1) | 93 (48.7) | 346 (45.4) | ||
| Middle | 253 (26.5) | 51 (26.7) | 202 (26.5) | ||
| Higher | 261 (27.4) | 47 (24.6) | 214 (28.1) | ||
| Hearing | |||||
| Threshold, dB HLa | 807 | 24.1 (12.8) | 28.6 (13.2) | 23.0 (12.4) | <.001 |
| Impairment ≥25 dB HLb | 807 | 117 (14.5) | 38 (23.5) | 79 (12.2) | <.001 |
| Tinnitus impairment daily life | 953 | 27 (2.8) | 27 (14.1) | — | |
| THI-s | |||||
| Scorec | 90 | 6 (0, 14) | 6 (0, 14) | — | |
| ≥16d | 90 | 22 (2.3) | 22 (24.4) | — | |
| 65-69 y | |||||
| Participants | 1382 | 1,382 | 321 (23.2) | 1,061 (76.8) | |
| Male | 1382 | 624 (45.2) | 167 (52.0) | 457 (43.1) | .005 |
| Education | 1382 | .192 | |||
| Lower | 691 (50.0) | 154 (48.0) | 537 (50.6) | ||
| Middle | 356 (25.8) | 95 (29.6) | 261 (24.6) | ||
| Higher | 335 (24.2) | 72 (22.4) | 263 (24.8) | ||
| Hearing | |||||
| Threshold, dB HLa | 1173 | 28.4 (14.4) | 34.0 (17.3) | 26.7 (12.9) | <.001 |
| Impairment ≥25 dB HLb | 1173 | 278 (23.7) | 105 (38.6) | 173 (19.2) | <.001 |
| Tinnitus impairment daily life | 1382 | 37 (2.7) | 37 (11.5) | — | |
| THI-s | |||||
| Scorec | 165 | 4 (0, 10) | 4 (0, 10) | — | |
| ≥16d | 165 | 21 (1.5) | 21 (12.7) | — | |
| 70-74 y | |||||
| Participants | 780 | 780 | 174 (22.3) | 606 (77.7) | |
| Male | 780 | 340 (43.6) | 92 (52.9) | 248 (40.9) | .005 |
| Education | 780 | .384 | |||
| Lower | 419 (53.7) | 100 (57.5) | 319 (52.6) | ||
| Middle | 229 (29.4) | 50 (28.7) | 179 (29.5) | ||
| Higher | 132 (16.9) | 24 (13.8) | 108 (17.8) | ||
| Hearing | |||||
| Threshold, dB HLa | 638 | 34.6 (16.4) | 40.5 (20.3) | 32.9 (14.7) | <.001 |
| Impairment ≥25 dB HLb | 638 | 258 (40.4) | 74 (52.9) | 184 (36.9) | .001 |
| Tinnitus impairment daily life | 780 | 20 (2.6) | 20 (11.5) | — | |
| THI-s | |||||
| Scorec | 75 | 2 (0, 8) | 2 (0, 8) | — | |
| ≥16d | 75 | 10 (1.3) | 10 (13.3) | — | |
| 75-79 y | |||||
| Participants | 622 | 622 | 135 (21.7) | 487 (78.3) | |
| Male | 622 | 260 (41.8) | 57 (42.2) | 203 (41.7) | .911 |
| Education | 622 | .030 | |||
| Lower | 337 (54.2) | 84 (62.2) | 253 (52.0) | ||
| Middle | 191 (30.7) | 29 (21.5) | 162 (33.3) | ||
| Higher | 94 (15.1) | 22 (16.3) | 72 (14.8) | ||
| Hearing | |||||
| Threshold, dB HLa | 486 | 38.1 (16.0) | 44.5 (17.2) | 36.2 (15.2) | <.001 |
| Impairment ≥25 dB HLb | 486 | 274 (56.4) | 78 (71.6) | 196 (52.0) | <.001 |
| Tinnitus impairment daily life | 622 | 17 (2.7) | 17 (12.5) | — | |
| THI-s | |||||
| Scorec | 79 | 4 (0, 10) | 4 (0, 10) | — | |
| ≥16d | 79 | 11 (1.7) | 11 (13.9) | — | |
| 80-84 y | |||||
| Participants | 677 | 677 | 135 (19.9) | 542 (80.1) | |
| Male | 677 | 276 (40.8) | 48 (35.6) | 228 (42.1) | .168 |
| Education | 677 | .366 | |||
| Lower | 351 (51.8) | 77 (57.0) | 274 (50.6) | ||
| Middle | 228 (33.7) | 42 (31.1) | 186 (34.3) | ||
| Higher | 98 (14.5) | 16 (11.9) | 82 (15.1) | ||
| Hearing | |||||
| Threshold, dB HLa | 463 | 44.4 (17.7) | 49.5 (19.1) | 43.2 (17.1) | .003 |
| Impairment ≥25 dB HLb | 463 | 325 (70.2) | 71 (80.7) | 254 (67.7) | .017 |
| Tinnitus impairment daily life | 677 | 16 (2.4) | 16 (11.9) | — | |
| THI-s | |||||
| Scorec | 82 | 4 (0, 8) | 4 (0, 8) | — | |
| ≥16d | 82 | 9 (1.3) | 9 (11.0) | — | |
| ≥85 y | |||||
| Participants | 473 | 473 | 97 (20.5) | 376 (79.5) | |
| Male | 473 | 145 (30.7) | 28 (28.9) | 117 (31.1) | .668 |
| Education | 473 | .964 | |||
| Lower | 302 (63.8) | 62 (63.9) | 240 (63.8) | ||
| Middle | 130 (27.5) | 26 (26.8) | 104 (27.7) | ||
| Higher | 41 (8.7) | 9 (9.3) | 32 (8.5) | ||
| Hearing | |||||
| Threshold, dB HLa | 250 | 52.7 (18.4) | 55.3 (19.2) | 51.9 (18.2) | .221 |
| Impairment ≥25 dB HLb | 250 | 218 (87.2) | 54 (93.1) | 164 (85.4) | .125 |
| Tinnitus impairment daily life | 473 | 8 (1.7) | 8 (8.2) | — | |
| THI-s | |||||
| Scorec | 46 | 2 (0, 4) | 2 (0, 4) | — | |
| ≥16d | 46 | 4 (0.8) | 4 (8.7) | — | |
Abbreviations: dB HL, decibel hearing level; THI-s, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory–screening version.
a
Mean (SD) for normally distributed continuous variable.
b
Hearing impairment was averaged over the 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 4-kHz frequencies in the worst ear.
c
Median (interquartile range) for nonnormally distributed continuous variable.
d
Participants experiencing a moderate/severe handicap from tinnitus.