Tinnitus or noises in the ear may be frustrating and can lead to anxiety and depression. A number of factors including hypertension are implicated. Hypertension has a high prevalence of 26.34% in local population and with dearth of literature on tinnitus in hypertension; it remains a scientific and clinical enigma. This cross sectional observational study was conducted, to determine the prevalence of tinnitus among the hypertensive patients, at the medical outpatients of Mayo Hospital and Services Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, over a period of six months, using non-probability purposive sampling. A total of 182 cases of both genders, aged 18-75 years, suffering from stage I and II hypertension on different types of antihypertensive treatments were recruited. Tinnitus functional index (TFI) was used for screening followed by otoscopy. Results revealed a mean age of 47.66±12.645 years with 47.8% males and 52.2% females. A very high prevalence of tinnitus of 47.3% was present in patients suffering from hypertension in the region.
Key words: Hypertension, Tinnitus
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