Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Laryngorhinootologie 2022; 101(S 02): S249
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1746727
Poster
Otology / Neurootology / Audiology

Treatment and socioeconomic costs for chronic tinnitus patients in Germany

Authors

  • Konstantin Tziridis

    1   Universitäts-HNO-Klinik Erlangen, Experimentelle HNO-Heilkunde Erlangen

  • Jana Friedrich

    1   Universitäts-HNO-Klinik Erlangen, Experimentelle HNO-Heilkunde Erlangen

  • Petra Brüggemann

    2   Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Tinnituszentrum Berlin

  • Holger Schulze

    1   Universitäts-HNO-Klinik Erlangen, Experimentelle HNO-Heilkunde Erlangen

  • Birgit Mazurek

    2   Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Tinnituszentrum Berlin
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The prevalence of tinnitus in Germany is 3.9%, yet there has been no national systematic study of the costs caused by it.

The 259 chronic tinnitus patients in this retrospective clinical work were examined in 2017/2018. They were interviewed regarding tinnitus-related medical care and services of the health care system and their occupational situation. The hearing ability (TSA) and tinnitus severity (TQ according to Göbel and Hiller) were determined. In order to estimate the extent of the financial burden on society, the data were analysed according to the severity of the disease in terms of health system costs, private costs and national economic costs.

The calculated average total economic costs per tinnitus patient in Germany amount to 4,798.91€. Of this, 2,206.95€ is attributable to the health care system, 290.45€ is borne privately. The national economy loses 2,301.51€ due to loss of working hours. All patients in Germany affected by chronic tinnitus thus incur costs totalling 15.55 billion euros. The average number of days of absence per patient is 25.82 days, which is more than twice as high as the average number of days of sick leave. All patients affected by chronic tinnitus in Germany cause costs for the health care system alone totalling 7.2 billion euros. The costs per tinnitus patient are thus higher than, e.g., for the chronic diseases COPD and asthma.

Especially by comparing it with the data of other chronic widespread diseases in Germany, it becomes clear that tinnitus is a serious problem, among other things because of its macroeconomic effects.



Publication History

Article published online:
24 May 2022

© 2022. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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