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Ear, nose and throat/otolaryngology
Protocol
Dimensions of tinnitus-related complaints reported by patients and their significant others: protocol for a systematic review
  1. Haúla Haider1,
  2. Kathryn Fackrell2,3,
  3. Veronica Kennedy4,
  4. Deborah A Hall2,3
  1. 1ENT Department, Hospital Cuf Infante Santo—Nova Medical School, Lisbon, Portugal
  2. 2Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Nottingham, UK
  3. 3Otology and Hearing group, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
  4. 4Department of Audiovestibular Medicine, Halliwell Health and Children's Centre, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Bolton, UK
  1. Correspondence to Professor Deborah A Hall; deborah.hall{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Abstract

Introduction Over 70 million people in Europe and >50 million people in the USA are reported to experience tinnitus (the sensation of noise in the absence of any corresponding sound source). Tinnitus is a multidimensional concept. Individual patients may report different profiles of tinnitus-related symptoms which may each require a tailored management approach and an appropriate measure of therapeutic benefit. This systematic review concerns the patient perspective and has the purpose to find what symptoms are reported by people who experience tinnitus and by their significant others.

Methods and analysis This protocol lays out the methodology to define what dimensions of tinnitus-related symptoms patients and their significant others report as being a problem. Methods are defined according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses for Protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 and data will be collated in a narrative synthesis. Findings will contribute to the eventual establishment of a Core Domain Set for clinical trials of tinnitus.

Ethics and dissemination No ethical issues are foreseen. Findings will be reported at national and international ENT and audiology conferences and in a peer-reviewed journal.

Trial registration number CRD42015020629.

  • QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
  • STATISTICS & RESEARCH METHODS

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009171

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors HH is the guarantor of the review. DAH created the search strategies. HH and DAH contributed equally to all other stages of the protocol development and manuscript production. KF made a substantial scientific contribution to the revised manuscript. VK provided consultative and advice. HH, KF, VK and DAH approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding This work is supported by COST Action (TINNET BM1306). The COMiT initiative is partially supported through an independent research programme funded under the Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action framework. Travel, subsistence and accommodation for DAH to work with HH was provided through one Short Term Scientific Mission.

    • Disclaimer The views expressed are those of the authors and not the funder.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement All data collected according to the data items will be available on request to the extent that it is not included in the published systematic review article.