New Tinnitus Diagnoses Rates After COVID-19 Vaccination Even Lower Than Those of Other Common Vaccines

by Linda Kossoff •

How often are patients diagnosed with new-onset tinnitus within 21 days after receiving COVID-19 vaccination in comparison to three other common vaccinations?

BOTTOM LINE

There was a higher risk of a new tinnitus diagnosis after influenza, Tdap, and pneumococcal vaccinations than after the COVID-19 vaccine.

BACKGROUND: Fear of adverse effects from the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is a significant national health concern. Some case reports describe patients having life-altering tinnitus after the COVID-19 vaccination. There has not been a large-scale investigation into the prevalence of these new tinnitus diagnoses in comparison to other common vaccinations.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study.

SETTING: School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

SYNOPSIS: Drawing from a federated research network of electronic health record data representing more than 78 million people, researchers identified patient groups that: 1) received their first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 15, 2020, to March 1, 2022; 2) received their second mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in that same time range; and/or received 3) influenza vaccine, 4) Tdap vaccine, and/or 5) pneumococcal vaccine Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2019. Findings showed that out of 2,575,235 patients receiving a first dose of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine without any prior tinnitus diagnosis, 0.038% had a new diagnosis of tinnitus within 21 days; the proportion was lower at 0.031% for the second-dose group. There were higher risks of a new tinnitus diagnosis after the influenza (0.062%), Tdap (0.069%), and pneumococcal (0.088%) vaccinations. Overall, rates of new encounter diagnoses of tinnitus for each of the groups were extremely low.

CITATION: Dorney I, Bobak L, Otteson T, et al. Prevalence of new-onset tinnitus after COVID-19 vaccination with comparison to other vaccinations. Laryngoscope. 2023;133:1722–1725.