Epidemiology of Tinnitus: Frequency of the Condition

We conducted an umbrella review of the scientific literature followed by a systematic review to comprehensively collect existing evidence on global prevalence from national or regional representative samples of tinnitus. The present chapter shows selected results from a comprehensive recently published systematic review and meta-analysis (Jarach et al., 2022; JAMA Neurol. 2022;79(9):888–900). Out of 767 publications retrieved in November 2021, we identified 113 eligible publications and extracted prevalence estimates from 89 articles included in the meta-analyses. We present here results from 81 articles with available information on any or severe tinnitus. Overall, prevalence of any tinnitus was 14.4% in adults and 13.6% in children; prevalence of severe tinnitus was 2.3% in adults and 2.7% in children. Prevalence estimates did not significantly differ by sex, while tinnitus prevalence increased with increasing age: any tinnitus was reported by 9.7% of young adults, 13.7% of middle-aged adults, and 23.6% of older adults. Corresponding estimates for severe tinnitus were 0.4% in young adults, 2.7% in middle aged, and 6.9% among older adults, respectively. Our results indicate that globally tinnitus affects more than 740 million people and is felt as a major problem by more than 120 million subjects, mostly aged 65 years or more.