Nationwide analysis of the relationships between mental health, body mass index and tinnitus in premenopausal female adults in Korea: 2010-2012 KNHANES.

Tinnitus is related to serious comorbidities such as suicidal ideation and attempts. Body mass index (BMI) is associated with auditory symptoms including hearing loss. The aim of this nationwide, population-based, cross-sectional study was to evaluate the relationship between mental health, body mass index and tinnitus in a Korean premenopausal female population. This study analyzed data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys in 2010-2012. Data were collected from 4628 19 years or older, premenopausal women. After adjustments, underweight premenopausal women exhibited a higher odds ratio for tinnitus (odd ratio = 1.54; 95% confidence interval = 1.14-2.08) compared with women of normal weight. Moderate and severe tinnitus was highly prevalent in underweight as well as extremely obese women. The prevalence of perceived stress, melancholy, and suicide ideation was significantly higher in women with tinnitus. The prevalence of perceived stress and suicide ideation was significantly higher in underweight women with tinnitus, but that of melancholy was significantly lower. This study demonstrated that underweight premenopausal Korean women had a higher risk of tinnitus, which has grown in importance as a public health issue. Women with tinnitus experience perceived stress and suicide ideation more frequently, but melancholy less frequently than women without.

Use of cortical stimulation in neuropathic pain, tinnitus, depression, and movement disorders.

Medical treatment must strike a balance between benefit and risk. As the field of neuromodulation develops, decreased invasiveness, in combination with maintenance of efficacy, has become a goal. We provide a review of the history of cortical stimulation from its origins to the current state. The first part discusses neuropathic pain and the nonpharmacological treatment options used. The second part covers transitions to tinnitus, believed by many to be another deafferentation disorder, its classification, and treatment. The third part focuses on major depression. The fourth section concludes with the discussion of the use of cortical stimulation in movement disorders. Each part discusses the development of the field, describes the current care protocols, and suggests future avenues for research needed to advance neuromodulation.

Ancient voices on tinnitus: the pathology and treatment of tinnitus in Celsus and the Hippocratic Corpus compared and contrasted.

OBJECTIVE: The object of the paper is to analyse the treatment of tinnitus in two ancient works, Celsus De Medicina and the Greek Hippocratic Corpus. Whilst reviews of historical references to tinnitus have identified this material, this is the first detailed treatment of the subject in these authors. DESIGN: The paper considers the material relating to tinnitus and suggested treatments in the Roman medical writer Celsus (mid first century AD) in contrast with those found in the Greek Hippocratic Corpus (late fifth, early fourth century BC). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The lifestyle change, diet and pharmacological treatments suggested by Celsus are analysed and shown as likely to be effective. Celsus is shown to be remarkably modern in his understanding of the aetiology of the disease and his suggested dietary and pharmacological treatments appear to be soundly based. Celsus' pharmacological approach differs from the more theoretical stance of the Hippocratic Corpus based on humoural theory. The Hippocratric Corpus is more detailed in its descriptions of otological pathology and more concerned with a humoural explanation of the disease, but offers useful advice on diet and regimen and also provides the first detailed description of what appears to be Ménière's Syndrome.

[Medical history of Martin Luther].

Martin Luther achieved great success in religious reformation, though he was said to have suffered from many kinds of diseases during his lifetime. Unfortunately, however, his medical history has never been reported in Japan. Since the second half of his thirties, he was suffering from severe constipation, causing hemorrhoids and anal prolapse. At the beginning of his forties he had vertigo, tinnitis and headaches, which were the signs of chronic purlent otitis media and ended in left otorrhea and pyorrhea of the left mastoiditis. Nearly at the same time, he started to suffer from anginal pain, colic and dysuria due to urinary uric acid stones, gout and left leg ulcer, which were all caused by metabolic syndromes. The last 1/3 of his life was affected by the shadow of diseases, and his religious activities were frequently disturbed. He died from myocardial infarction at the age 63, in February 1546.

Titus's tinnitus.

Historical approaches to tinnitus have depended highly on cultural factors. While ancient Oriental mysticism regarded it as sensitivity to the divine, Roman medicine associated it with depressive and seizure disorders on the basis of presumed common pathophysiology shared by the three conditions. In the Babylonian Talmud, tinnitus appears as Titus's curse: a gnat buzzing in the brain, responding to sound therapy, and then habituating. Various sources show varied emphases with common attention for contextual and emotional aspects that have become an important focus in modern management of tinnitus.

The bells are ringing: tinnitus in their own words.

Tinnitus, commonly known as "ringing in the ears," is the perception of a ringing noise or other sound within the head when none exists. It is a malady that affects millions, so its occurrence among the famous comes as no surprise. Beginning with Pliny the Elder, who coined the term, this essay describes the travails of a dozen well-known subjects afflicted with this disorder, through several centuries, principally in their own words. For some it was a burden to be endured; for others, it was unendurable. Suggested remedies were many and oft-times strange; cure, even now, is nonexistent.

Earliest historic reference of 'tinnitus' is controversial.

Tinnitus, that is defined as 'ringing in the ear', is and has probably always been a very common phenomenon in the health history of mankind. A variety of pathomechanisms for its onset has been proposed in the past and this trend sees no stopping. Precise pathomechanisms still remain unclear. From the historical point of view, tinnitus is a very interesting topic but there is a lack of scientific enquiries. As its earliest historic reference, the Papyrus Ebers is often cited. By reviewing the original source, however, it is very unlikely that this contains the earliest historic reference of tinnitus. It is rather likely indeed that tinnitus was a known symptom in the ancient Egypt but it has never been exclusively been written down. This article reviews data provided by this fascinating historical period on the questionable reference and highlights the impact of history on the modern status of tinnitus.

[A short history of hearing research. I. Antiquity]. / Eine kurze Geschichte der Hörforschung. I. Antike.

This review describes important steps in the history of basic research on the function of the hearing organ. The present, first part revisits the period between Empedocles and Galen, focussing on the ideas of Empedocles and Aristotle. It is unlikely that they knew the cochlea. Based upon a more general theory of interaction, however, Empedocles in the fifth century B.C. compared the hearing organ with a bell and claimed that it is capable of not only receiving, but also generating sound. Using Empedocles's theories of sound and the four elements, Aristotle proposed that sound is sensed by an air-filled resonant cavity in the head located behind the eardrum. The postulated cavity may have been identified with, or at least included, the middle ear. Aristotle's ideas dominated the theory of hearing for two millenniums.