Jarach, Carlotta M. and Karydou, Kyriaki and Trochidis, Ilias and Bernal-Robledano, Alberto and Brandt, Piet A. van den and Cima, Rilana and Cederroth, Christopher R. and Lopez-Escamez, Jose Antonio and Ghislandi, Simone and Hall, Deborah Ann and Kikidis, Dimitris and Langguth, Berthold and Lugo, Alessandra and Mazurek, Birgit and Odone, Anna and Schecklmann, Martin and Schoisswohl, Stefan and Simoes, Jorge and Schlee, Winfried and Gallus, Silvano (2024) The out-of-pocket expenses of people with tinnitus in Europe. JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, 34 (11). pp. 515-525. ISSN 0917-5040
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Background: Despite the high frequency of tinnitus and its impact on wellbeing, little is known about its economic burden and no data to our knowledge are available on out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. Methods: In 2022 a survey was conducted on OOP costs of tinnitus. We enrolled 679 participants with slight, moderate and severe tinnitus in Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. We estimated annual OOP expenses for tinnitus-related healthcare visits, treatments, medications and alternative medicine practices. Prevalence of tinnitus in the general population, obtained from a representative survey we conducted in Europe in 2017-2018, was used to generalise costs for people with any tinnitus at the national level. Results: OOP expenses were 368<euro> (95% confidence intervals (CI), 78<euro>-690<euro>), 728<euro> (95% CI, 316<euro>- 1,288<euro>), and 1,492<euro> (95% CI, 760<euro>-2,688<euro>) for slight, moderate, and severe tinnitus, respectively, with annual expenditure of 565<euro> for people with any tinnitus: 209<euro> for healthcare visits, 93<euro> for treatments, 16<euro> for drugs, 64<euro> for hearing supporting systems and 183<euro> for acupuncture, homeopathy and osteopathy. Individuals with slight, moderate, and severe tinnitus expressed a willingness to invest 1.6, 4.3, and 7.0 times their monthly income, respectively, to achieve complete relief from tinnitus. Conclusions: This study offers for the first time insights into the OOP expenses incurred by individuals with tinnitus. OOP expenses exhibited substantial variations based on severity status, accounting for more than 17 thousand million<euro> in the countries considered. In terms of financial burden, these findings align tinnitus to the recognised leading disabilities, including back pain and migraine.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | CARE; COST; out of pocket costs; economic burden; patients' perspective; epidemiology |
| Subjects: | 600 Technology > 610 Medical sciences Medicine |
| Divisions: | Medicine > Lehrstuhl für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Jan 2026 10:50 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Jan 2026 10:50 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/65286 |
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