Impacto de uma intervenção clínica na qualidade de vida de portadores de zumbido

Abstract

Using a nonrandomized clinical trial, with two groups (intervention group and control group), this study evaluated the clinical intervention`s effect on quality of life in patients with tinnitus. The study sample was consisted with 122 patients with tinnitus (61 patients in the intervention group and 61 in the control group). People were recruited by two databases of speech therapy clinics from Veranópolis city and Caxias do Sul city, both situated in Rio Grande do Sul state. Patients with tinnitus from Veranópolis constituted the intervention group and participated in four monthly meetings, attended tinnitus lectures with many professionals. Patients with tinnitus from Caxias do Sul constituted the control group and participated only in two meetings and attended one tinnitus lecture. People of both groups responded in the first and the last meeting, the Questionário de Gravidade do Zumbido (QGZ), Brazilian version of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). The 122 patients with tinnitus who participated in this study, 50 (41%) were male and 72 (59%) females. By comparing the results of the QGZ, responded in the beginning and in the end of the survey, it found that the intervention group reduced significantly the discomfort due to tinnitus, people of this group improved their quality of life after the intervention in all scales of the questionnaire (Functional, Emotional and Catastrophic) and also in the overall score (p <0.001) when compared with the control group. The proposed intervention provided shows, therefore, beneficial and effective in quality of life of patients with tinnitus.