Zumbido pós COVID-19: estudos em pacientes atendidos em serviços especializado

Abstract

Introduction: Tinnitus is considered a symptom and implies the conscious perception of a sound in the absence of a corresponding external acoustic source. Objective: The study seeks to investigate the perception of tinnitus by patients after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to trying to understand whether the perception had worsened or improved in relation to the pre-pandemic period. Method: Data were obtained through an online questionnaire developed by the author of the research and together with him two protocols to measure the impact and discomfort caused by tinnitus both before and after the pandemic, these protocols being: the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory - THI and Visual Analog Scale - Eva, respectively. After collection, the data were analyzed descriptively and using the parametric t-student test. Results: The vast majority of the population consisted of females (28.6%) aged between 25 and 67 years. Of the 21 participating patients, only 10 (47.6%) showed an increase in the annoyance and perception of tinnitus after the COVID-19 pandemic, with tinnitus being classified as moderate. Worsening in the classification levels was noticed, but this was not significant since in the tests the value of p= 0.103 (that is, the value of p was greater than 0.05). Conclusion: There was a tendency for tinnitus to worsen based on the data obtained, this fact may be related to exposure to stressors triggered in the pandemic period, which trigger negative responses in the body, including increased tinnitus.