The Association between Serum Lipid Levels and Tinnitus Prevalence and Severity in Korean Elderly: A Nationwide Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the association between serum lipid level and tinnitus risk in Korean older adults.

Materials and Methods: This study used data from the 2016–2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Over all, 6021 subjects aged ≥60 years were included. Hypertriglyceridemia was defined as a serum triglyceride level of ≥200 mg/dL. The high-risk threshold of the total cholesterol (TC)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio was defined as above 5.0. The presence of tinnitus was assessed via health interviews. Tinnitus severity was classified as “not annoying,” “irritating,” and “se verely annoying and causing sleep problems.” Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between serum lipid level and tinnitus risk.

Results: The odds ratio (OR) of tinnitus was 1.27-times higher in the group with hypertriglyceridemia than in the group without hypertriglyceridemia after adjusting for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, anemia, current smoking, obesity, noise exposure, stress cognition, and depressive mood or anxiety [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04–1.56, p=0.022]. The OR of tinnitus was 1.21-times higher in the group with a high TC/HDL-C ratio than in the group without a high TC/HDL-C ratio after adjusting for the same variables as above (95% CI 1.02–1.44, p=0.025).

Conclusion: This study revealed that hypertriglyceridemia and high TC/HDL-C ratio were significantly associated with an in creased OR of tinnitus in Korean older adults.