96% of patients with tinnitus show interest in using cannabis to manage symptoms

Most patients considered using and learning more about cannabis as a treatment to relieve their tinnitus and related symptoms, a recent study found.

“Management of tinnitus can be challenging, with the foundation of treatment consisting of masking strategies, hearing amplification, anti-anxiolytics, and cognitive behavioral therapy,” Dorsa Mavedatnia, an MD candidate at the University of Ottawa, and colleagues wrote in the Journal of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery.

They cited previous research that has shown cannabis may be effective for conditions like anxiety, depression and seizures, “all of which have similarities or associations with tinnitus.”

Thus, Mavedatnia and colleagues conducted a study to assess the understanding of cannabis use among patients with tinnitus. The researchers assigned an 18-item questionnaire to 45 patients (mean age, 54 years) in a Canadian tertiary neuro-otology clinic. The questionnaires evaluated several factors, including perception, usage and knowledge of cannabis.

Overall, 96% of patients reported that they would consider using cannabis as a treatment for tinnitus, while 98% were open to learning more about cannabis if it was shown to improve tinnitus symptoms.

The forms of medical cannabis that patients preferred included:

• edibles (62%);
• tablets (58%);
• cream (47%);
• vaporizing (20%);
• oil (13%); and
• smoking (7%).

Of the 10 patients who were using cannabis, 80% reported that it helped with tinnitus-related symptoms. Among the conditions it addressed were dizziness, auditory symptoms and emotional difficulties.

Mavedatnia and colleagues found that 51% of patients learned about cannabis from a friend, while 22% learned about it from social media. However, 80% noted that they wanted to learn more about cannabis from a physician.

“It is imperative that public health campaigns and otolaryngologists managing patients with tinnitus are the primary source of information for patients to ensure they are receiving accurate information,” Mavedatnia and colleagues wrote.

They suggested that the painful and tiresome conditions that arise from tinnitus may be why most patients showed a willingness to consider cannabis as a treatment option.

“Patients also often do not receive adequate symptom relief from conventional therapy,” they wrote. “Even conventional therapy, such as sound masking, may not be preferrable for patients given the cost associated with hearing aids and the introduction of additional noise stimulus that might not be much different than a patient’s tinnitus.”

The study was limited due to the uncertainty of patients’ tinnitus severity or duration and the use of convenience sampling, which may have limited the representativeness of the tinnitus population, according to the researchers.

Moving forward, “this data may lay the groundwork for future research and clinical trials on cannabis use for tinnitus alleviation,” Mavedatnia and colleagues concluded.