The Effect of Zinc Therapy on Tinnitus Symptoms Reduction

Tinnitus is a common complaint among noise-exposed workers. A dietary zinc supplementation is apparently beneficial in reducing symptoms in patients with tinnitus. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of hypozincemia among patients with tinnitus and the effect of zinc therapy on the severity of symptoms. A total of 66 male workers afflicted with tinnitus were selected from industries in the Khuzestan Province, which yielded a final participant tally of 60 cases due to drop out. Serum zinc levels were measured for all the participants by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry using non-diluted serum samples. Subsequently, 35 and 25 patients were randomly selected for zinc (60 mg/day) and placebo therapy, respectively, for two months. Moreover, the patients were categorized into two groups on the basis of serum zinc levels: group one (16 patients) with ≤50 µg/dl and group two (19 patients) with >50 µg/dl serum zinc level. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software by paired t-test and one-way ANOVA. The age of the workers, represented as mean ± standard deviation (SD), were 34.9 ± 5.1, 37.5 ± 5.4, and 36.1 ± 5.5 years for groups one, two, and placebo, respectively. The serum zinc levels before and after zinc/placebo therapy were found to be 47.7 and 77.3 µg/dl respectively in group one, 86.6 and 98.2 µg/dl respectively in group two, and 73.2 and 72.6 µg/dl respectively in the placebo group. The tinnitus symptoms were observed to decrease from pre-treatment to the post-treatment condition in both groups, which received zinc therapy. Zinc therapy is likely to be beneficial for individuals with certain types of tinnitus and could relieve or possibly even prevent the condition. However, like other complex neurological disorders, one drug is unlikely to resolve tinnitus in all patients.