IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i16p10455-d894673.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimation of Tinnitus-Related Socioeconomic Costs in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Konstantin Tziridis

    (Experimental Otolaryngology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Waldstrasse 1, 91054 Erlangen, Germany)

  • Jana Friedrich

    (Experimental Otolaryngology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Waldstrasse 1, 91054 Erlangen, Germany)

  • Petra Brüeggemann

    (Tinnitus Center, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Luisenstrasse 13, 10117 Berlin, Germany)

  • Birgit Mazurek

    (Tinnitus Center, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Luisenstrasse 13, 10117 Berlin, Germany)

  • Holger Schulze

    (Experimental Otolaryngology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Waldstrasse 1, 91054 Erlangen, Germany)

Abstract

Despite the high prevalence of tinnitus in Germany of nearly 12% of the general population, there have been no systematic studies on the socioeconomic costs for German society caused by tinnitus so far. Here we analyzed data from 258 chronic tinnitus patients—namely tinnitus severity and health utility index (HUI)—and correlated them with their tinnitus-related public health care costs, private expenses, and economic loss due to their tinnitus percept as assessed by questionnaires. We found correlations of the HUI with health care costs and calculated the mean socioeconomic costs per tinnitus patient in Germany. According to our most conservative estimate, these sum up to EUR 4798.91 per year. Of that EUR 2206.95 account for the public health care, EUR 290.45 are carried by the patient privately and the remaining EUR 2301.51 account for economical loss due to sick leave. With a prevalence of 5.5% with at least bothersome tinnitus, this sums up to 21.9 billion Euro per year and with 25.82 sick leave days; tinnitus patients miss work more than double the time of the average German employee (10.9 days). The findings fit within the cost ranges of studies from other European countries and the USA and show that the socioeconomic burden of this disease-like symptom is a global problem. In comparison with the costs of other major chronic diseases in Germany—such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (ca. 16 billion Euro) or diabetes mellitus (ca. 42 billion Euro)—the relevance of the ‘symptom’ tinnitus for the German social economy becomes even more obvious.

Suggested Citation

  • Konstantin Tziridis & Jana Friedrich & Petra Brüeggemann & Birgit Mazurek & Holger Schulze, 2022. "Estimation of Tinnitus-Related Socioeconomic Costs in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-17, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10455-:d:894673
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10455/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10455/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William J Furlong & David H. Feeny & George W. Torrance & Ronald D. Barr, 2001. "The Health Utilities Index (HUI®) System for Assessing Health-Related Quality of Life in Clinical Studies," Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis Working Paper Series 2001-02, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA), McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
    2. Ilias Trochidis & Alessandra Lugo & Elisa Borroni & Christopher R. Cederroth & Rilana Cima & Dimitris Kikidis & Berthold Langguth & Winfried Schlee & Silvano Gallus, 2021. "Systematic Review on Healthcare and Societal Costs of Tinnitus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-11, June.
    3. Arianna Di Stadio & Laura Dipietro & Giampietro Ricci & Antonio Della Volpe & Antonio Minni & Antonio Greco & Marco De Vincentiis & Massimo Ralli, 2018. "Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, Hyperacusis, and Diplacusis in Professional Musicians: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-14, September.
    4. Neumeier, Stefan, 2017. "Regionale Erreichbarkeit von ausgewählten Fachärzten, Apotheken, ambulanten Pflegediensten und weiteren ausgewählten Medizindienstleistungen in Deutschland: Abschätzung auf Basis des Thünen-Erreichbar," Thünen Working Papers 77, Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries.
    5. Neumeier, Stefan, 2017. "Regionale Erreichbarkeit von ausgewählten Fachärzten, Apotheken, ambulanten Pflege-diensten und weiteren ausgewählten Medizin-dienstleistungen in Deutschland – Abschätzung auf Basis des Thünen-Erreich," Thünen Working Paper 263861, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (vTI), Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries.
    6. Navzer D. Engineer & Jonathan R. Riley & Jonathan D. Seale & Will A. Vrana & Jai A. Shetake & Sindhu P. Sudanagunta & Michael S. Borland & Michael P. Kilgard, 2011. "Reversing pathological neural activity using targeted plasticity," Nature, Nature, vol. 470(7332), pages 101-104, February.
    7. Boris Kauhl & Werner Maier & Jürgen Schweikart & Andrea Keste & Marita Moskwyn, 2018. "Who is where at risk for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease? A spatial epidemiological analysis of health insurance claims for COPD in Northeastern Germany," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-18, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Samer A. Kharroubi & Yara Beyh & Marwa Diab El Harake & Dalia Dawoud & Donna Rowen & John Brazier, 2020. "Examining the Feasibility and Acceptability of Valuing the Arabic Version of SF-6D in a Lebanese Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Kaspar Walter Meili & Anna Månsdotter & Linda Richter Sundberg & Jan Hjelte & Lars Lindholm, 2022. "An initiative to develop capability-adjusted life years in Sweden (CALY-SWE): Selecting capabilities with a Delphi panel and developing the questionnaire," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-21, February.
    3. Attema, Arthur E. & Brouwer, Werner B.F. & l’Haridon, Olivier & Pinto, Jose Luis, 2016. "An elicitation of utility for quality of life under prospect theory," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 121-134.
    4. Erreygers, Guido & Van Ourti, Tom, 2011. "Measuring socioeconomic inequality in health, health care and health financing by means of rank-dependent indices: A recipe for good practice," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 685-694, July.
    5. van Kippersluis, Hans & Van Ourti, Tom & O'Donnell, Owen & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2009. "Health and income across the life cycle and generations in Europe," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 818-830, July.
    6. Karen M. Kobayashi & Steven Prus & Zhiqiu Lin, 2008. "Ethnic Differences in Health: Does Immigration Status Matter?," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 230, McMaster University.
    7. Corneliu Bolbocean & Sylvia Pal & Stef Buuren & Peter J. Anderson & Peter Bartmann & Nicole Baumann & Jeanie L. Y. Cheong & Brian A. Darlow & Lex W. Doyle & Kari Anne I. Evensen & John Horwood & Marit, 2023. "Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes of Very Preterm or Very Low Birth Weight Adults: Evidence From an Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 93-105, January.
    8. Zhijun Tan & Ying Liang & Siming Liu & Wenjun Cao & Haibo Tu & Lingxia Guo & Yongyong Xu, 2013. "Health-Related Quality of Life as Measured with EQ-5D among Populations with and without Specific Chronic Conditions: A Population-Based Survey in Shaanxi Province, China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-10, July.
    9. David Feeny, 2012. "The Multi-attribute Utility Approach to Assessing Health-related Quality of Life," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 36, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Adam Sheppard & Massimo Ralli & Antonio Gilardi & Richard Salvi, 2020. "Occupational Noise: Auditory and Non-Auditory Consequences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-15, December.
    11. Chu, Filmer & Ohinmaa, Arto, 2016. "The obesity penalty in the labor market using longitudinal Canadian data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 10-17.
    12. David Feeny, 2002. "Commentary on Jack Dowie, “Decision validity should determine whether a generic or condition‐specific HRQOL measure is used in health care decisions”," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(1), pages 13-16, January.
    13. Martin Ringsten & Branimir Ivanic & Susanne Iwarsson & Eva Månsson Lexell, 2024. "Interventions to improve outdoor mobility among people living with disabilities: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), June.
    14. Steven Prus, 2007. "Age, SES, and Health: A Population Level Analysis of Health Inequalities over the Life Course," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 181, McMaster University.
    15. Małgorzata Pawlaczyk-Łuszczyńska & Małgorzata Zamojska-Daniszewska & Adam Dudarewicz & Kamil Zaborowski, 2021. "Pure-Tone Hearing Thresholds and Otoacoustic Emissions in Students of Music Academies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-25, February.
    16. Angela Koverech & Valeriano Soldati & Vittoria Polidori & Leda Marina Pomes & Luana Lionetto & Matilde Capi & Andrea Negro & Maurizio Simmaco & Paolo Martelletti, 2018. "Changing the Approach to Anticoagulant Therapy in Older Patients with Multimorbidity Using a Precision Medicine Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-8, August.
    17. Steven Prus & Zhiqiu Lin, 2005. "Ethnicity and Health: An Analysis of Physical Health Differences across Twenty-one Ethnocultural Groups in Canada," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 143, McMaster University.
    18. Martin Pienkowski, 2021. "Loud Music and Leisure Noise Is a Common Cause of Chronic Hearing Loss, Tinnitus and Hyperacusis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-19, April.
    19. Louis A. Cox & Douglas A. Popken, 2004. "Quantifying Human Health Risks from Virginiamycin Used in Chickens," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 271-288, February.
    20. Yunseo Ku & Do Youn Kim & Chiheon Kwon & Tae Soo Noh & Moo Kyun Park & Jun Ho Lee & Seung Ha Oh & Hee Chan Kim & Myung-Whan Suh, 2020. "Effect of age on the gap-prepulse inhibition of the cortical N1-P2 complex in humans as a step towards an objective measure of tinnitus," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10455-:d:894673. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.