Gemeinschaftsmedizin und Gesundheitserziehung

Abstrakt

Prevalence of Tinnitus among Nigerians

Adegbenro CA, Amusa YB, Ijadunola IKT and Adeyemo A

Background: Tinnitus is a common problem worldwide affecting about 17% of the American population. However there is dearth of information on the prevalence of this problem among the blacks in the developing countries.
Objective: To establish the prevalence of tinnitus among Nigerians, the result of which can be used as a baseline for future intervention study.
Study Design: A Descriptive cross-sectional survey.
Study Location: Ife central Local Government area of Osun State, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. This has a total estimated population of 150,580 made up of 79623 males and 70967 females living in 11 wards.
Subjects and Methods: The subjects for the study were volunteered 1000 aged 15 years and above. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select the subjects. The instrument for the data collection was a close-ended questionnaire that elicited information on demographic and history of tinnitus from the sample population. The data were collected between January and March, 2006. Data analysis was done by using the statistical package for social science (SPSS version 11). The results  were presented using, descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation and test of associations.
Results: There were 413 (41.3%) females and 587 (58.7%) males. Forty nine percent of the respondents were in the 3rd – 4th decade of life, and are of the Yoruba ethnic stalk. Tinnitus was reported in 61 (6.1%) of respondents. Tinnitus was found to be most prevalent in age group 45 years and above with a prevalence of 14.3%. Male preponderance was found with a prevalence rate of 3.9%. It was also found to be more prevalent among farmers 33.0% while the lowest prevalence was found among the civil servants and students. The severe type of tinnitus was found in 0.01% of the studied population. Bilaterality was found in 33 (54.1%) and tinnitus was associated with ear diseases in 21 (34.4%) of the affected population.
Conclusion: The prevalence of tinnitus among the Nigerians of the Yoruba stalk in this study is low. It was found to be more among men, and the prevalence was found to rise with advancing age. It is of the less severe type, and it was associated with ear diseases in over a third of the affected population.