Vascular-Metabolic Risk Factors and Psychological Stress in Patients with Chronic Tinnitus

Little is known about molecular correlates of chronic tinnitus. We examined interrelationships between vascular-metabolic risk factors, perceived stress, and other routine blood values in patients with chronic tinnitus. Two-hundred patients (51% female) were screened for 49 blood parameters pertaining to vascular-metabolic risk, immune function, and redox processes. They further completed perceived stress- and tinnitus-related distress questionnaires. Following descriptive analyses, gender-specific sets of age- and tinnitus-severity-adjusted regression models investigated associations between perceived stress and blood parameters. Patients reported mildly elevated levels of perceived stress. Elevated levels of total cholesterol (65% and 61% of female and male patients, respectively), non-HDL-c (43/50%), LDL-c (56/59%), and lipoprotein_a (28/14%) were accompanied by high rates of overweight (99/100%) and smoking (28/31%). A low-level inflammatory state was accompanied by reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS)-neutralizing capacity (reduced co-enzyme Q10 and SOD1 levels). Most vascular risk factors were not correlated with perceived stress, except for fibrinogen (ss = -0.34) as well as C-reactive protein (ss = -0.31, p < 0.05) in men, and MCV (ss = -0.26, p < 0.05) in women. Interrelations between blood parameters and stress levels need to be investigated within psychobehavioural frameworks across varying distress levels. Alongside psychological interventions, a low-level inflammatory state may be a route for pharmacological therapeutics.