Articles: ninos.
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Tinnitus is a symptom defined as the perception of sound in the absence of an external source. In England alone there are an estimated ¾ million general practice consultations every year where the primary complaint is tinnitus, equating to a major burden on healthcare services. Clinical management strategies include education and advice, relaxation therapy, tinnitus retraining therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, sound enrichment using ear-level sound generators or hearing aids, and drug therapies to manage co-morbid symptoms such as sleep difficulties, anxiety or depression. As yet, no drug has been approved for tinnitus by a regulatory body. Nonetheless, over 100,000 prescriptions for betahistine are being filled every month in England, and nearly 10% of general practitioners prescribe betahistine for tinnitus. ⋯ There is an absence of evidence to suggest that betahistine has an effect on subjective idiopathic tinnitus when compared to placebo. The evidence suggests that betahistine is generally well tolerated with a similar risk of adverse effects to placebo treatments. The quality of evidence for the reported outcomes, using GRADE, ranged from moderate to very low.If future research into the effectiveness of betahistine in patients with tinnitus is felt to be warranted, it should use rigorous methodology. Randomisation and blinding should be of the highest quality, given the subjective nature of tinnitus and the strong likelihood of a placebo response. The CONSORT statement should be used in the design and reporting of future studies. We also recommend the development of validated, patient-centred outcome measures for research in the field of tinnitus.