Background: Tinnitus is a common auditory complaint among individuals characterized by ringing, buzzing, hissing, chirping, whistling, or other sounds in the ear. Following a low-fat/low-cholesterol diet can help reduce the blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which aids improvement in tinnitus symptoms. High cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the bloodstream play a significant role in the development of tinnitus, hearing loss, and vertigo.
Aim: This paper aims to test the association between hyperlipidemia and tinnitus among outpatients in King Khalid University (KKU) ENT clinic.
Patients and methods: A retrospective review of the medical records of patients who attended the ENT clinic at KKU was performed. An otological examination including pure tone audiometry, personal habits, and lipid profile was conducted. Patients were contacted by phone if there were any missing data.
Results: The study included 300 patients who were treated in the outpatient clinic during the study period. About 80% of the patients were of age >45 years and 60.3% were males. Half of the cases (150 cases) had tinnitus and 13% had hyperlipidemia. Patients with high lipid profile recorded doubled risk for tinnitus (P < 0.05). Other risk factors found to be significantly associated with tinnitus include vertigo, young age, and wearing an earpiece.
Conclusions: In conclusion, there was a significant association between hyperlipidemia and the incidence of tinnitus even after adjusting for all other risk factors. More large-scale researches are needed to assess in detail the association between different lipid components such as low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, and tinnitus epidemiology.
Keywords: Hearing loss; hearing problem; high cholesterol; hyperlipidemia; lipid profile; risk factors; tinnitus.