(ANSA) - MILAN, 04 NOV - About 65 million European citizens, one in seven people, suffer from tinnitus, this number "will increase significantly over the next decade".
In Italy alone, more than 6 million people suffer from it.
This was stated in a research by the Mario Negri Institute, published in LancetRegional Health Europe.
Tinnitus is the perception of a noise, usually a ringing, whistling, rustling or hissing sound, felt in the ears or head, in the absence of an external acoustic stimulus. In its most severe form it can strongly affect people's emotional health and social well-being. The study, conducted by the Institute's epidemiologists, SilvanoGallus and Alessandra Lugo, in collaboration with experts from the British University of Nottingham, the University of Regensburg in Germany and the Watt-University in Malaysia, is the first to rigorously examine the prevalence of tinnitus on a representative sample of the adult population of 12 EU member states, equal to 80% of the population of the Union plus England.
With this research, between 2017 and 2018, over 11,000 adults were recruited in Bulgaria, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain, asking them a series of questions related to tinnitus. .
"14% of adult Europeans reported having suffered from tinnitus for at least 5 minutes during the last 12 months," explains Silvano Gallus, lead author of the article. "Severe tinnitus was found in 1.2% of participants. it means that in Italy alone more than 6 million Italians suffer from tinnitus, of which more than 400 thousand are severe ".
"We found that the prevalence of tinnitus - adds Alessandra Lugo - significantly increases with age and hearing worsening, while it is similar in both sexes. At the moment there are no approved treatments or drugs to treat tinnitus, but there are therapies available to help cope with the symptom. And some of the latest drug research is showing promising results. "
(HANDLE).