The Efficacy of a Food Supplement in the Treatment of Tinnitus with Comorbid Headache: A Statistical and Machine Learning Analysis with a Literature Review.

Abstract

Introduction: Tinnitus, the perception of sound without an external auditory stimulus, affects approximately 10-15% of the population and is often associated with significant comorbidities such as headaches. These conditions can severely impact the quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a food supplement in reducing the symptoms of both tinnitus and headache in patients experiencing these conditions concurrently.

Methods: This prospective study included 32 patients (21 males and 11 females) aged between 23 and 68 years (mean age 49.38 years) who were experiencing both tinnitus and headache. The study assessed the impact of a food supplement on tinnitus and headache over a 90-day treatment period using three main instruments: the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), and a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for discomfort. Statistical analyses, including paired t tests, were conducted to compare pre- and posttreatment scores. In the same dataset, Ridge Regression, a linear regression model with L2 regularization, was used to predict posttreatment scores (THI90, HIT90, VAS90).

Results: The results indicated a statistically significant reduction in all three measures after 90 days of treatment. The mean THI score decreased from 29.81 to 27.06 (p = 0.011), the mean HIT-6 score decreased from 50.41 to 48.75 (p = 0.019), and the mean VAS score for discomfort decreased from 7.63 to 7.13 (p = 0.033). The optimal Ridge Regression model was found with an "alpha" value of approximately 3.73. The performance metrics on the test set were as follows: Mean Squared Error (MSE) of 13.91 and an R-squared score of 0.61, indicating that the model explains approximately 61% of the variance in the posttreatment scores. These results indicate that pretreatment scores are significant predictors of posttreatment outcomes, and gender plays a notable role in predicting HIT and VAS scores posttreatment.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a food supplement is effective in reducing the symptoms of tinnitus and headache in patients suffering from both conditions. The significant improvements in THI, HIT-6, and VAS scores indicate a positive impact on patient quality of life. Further research with larger sample sizes and more detailed subgroup analyses is recommended to fully understand the differential impacts of treatment across various demographics.