Overview
Tinnitus, the continuous ringing in the ears, affects about 10-15% of the general public and about 35% of adults over the age of 65 years. Tinnitus is not just a sound, but is accompanied by several other complaints - lack of attention, lack of sleep, depression, anxiety and hearing loss. These complaints are also present in people with dementia, and some of them occur several decades before dementia sets in. Given this commonality of symptoms between tinnitus and dementia, the question then arises - does having tinnitus also increase the risk of developing cognitive impairment (a precursor to dementia) over time?
Project Details
To answer this question, we will be looking at two large population studies - the Health, Ageing and Retirement in Thailand (HART) and The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). The HART and TILDA datasets contain questions on tinnitus, cognitive status, anxiety and depression levels, hearing status, levels of concentration and sleep collected from 5600 (HART) and 8504 (TILDA) participants every two years since 2015 and 2011 respectively. By performing targeted statistical modeling, we will be able to assess (i) the prevalence of tinnitus in people with cognitive impairments, (ii) if the presence of tinnitus causes decreasing cognitive status and (iii) what the probability of someone with tinnitus developing cognitive impairment will be after accounting for the effects of lack of attention, lack of sleep, depression, anxiety and hearing loss - symptoms common to both tinnitus and dementia.
This is one of few studies to investigate this relationship in such depth and will be crucial in understanding the effects of tinnitus on decreasing cognitive ability. If tinnitus is indeed a risk factor for declining cognitive status, then this study will be a seed in identifying a significant proportion of the population (tinnitus) who are potentially underserved and are at a high risk of developing dementia. Furthermore, the current study will also be the beginning of a campaign for the holistic brain health approach - i.e. taking care of our diet, sleep, exercise, engaging in recreational activities etc. - for preventing not just dementia, but also tinnitus which may be a significant risk factor for dementia.
Figure 1. Overlapping Symptoms of Dementia and Tinnitus
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